China's happiness index according to the UN 2015-2024

According to the UN's World Happiness Report, China's happiness index ranged at 5.97 points in 2024. China ranked 60th out of 143 countries. Finland, Denmark, and other European countries held the top spots in the ranking, while Afghanistan stayed at the bottom of the list. 

What is the happiness index?

The happiness index is based on a Cantril ladder survey which is carried out annually worldwide by the polling company Gallup. Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to value the quality of their lives at the survey moment on a 0 to 10 scale, with the worst possible life as zero and the best possible life as ten. The first World Happiness Report was published in 2012, and since then, governments are increasingly using its insights to orient public policies towards happiness.

Surge in happiness in China

In 2024, the happiness index in China was the highest since the beginning of the survey series. The growth in the sense of happiness has been consistent over the years except for a short period of 2018-2019. As happiness is hard to quantify, the reasons behind the dip in the curve during that time can only be hypothesized. 
The happiness index of 5.19 points in 2019, which was in the lower 50 percentile, did not seem to correlate with any of the usual suspects: the GDP growth, pollution levels, corruption or the perception of it, or even income inequality. The possible factors that could have affected people’s happiness were unemployment, insufficient social safety net, and several political issues. However, the country saw a surge in the sense of happiness from 2021 onwards. Successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic that gave a greater feeling of security, fast economic recovery, and increase in the national pride could have been a few of the reasons behind the recent rising optimism in China.