By Our Reporter
Uganda has overtaken Kenya to become the happiest country in East Africa in the 2020 World Happiness Report released in March 2021.
The survey conducted in 2020 placed Uganda at position 83, followed by Kenya at 86 which is a drop from the previous year, and Tanzania ranking at position 94, maintained from 2019.
Rwanda was ranked as the unhappiest country in the region at position 147. South Sudan and Burundi were not included in the report having been listed in previous surveys as some of the world’s unhappiest nations.
Mauritius island took first place as the happiest nation in Africa falling at position 44 worldwide.
Finland took first place as the happiest place in the world for the fourth year in a row followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, and the Netherlands.
The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared. It narrows down on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, describing and evaluating how governments all over the world have dealt with the pandemic. It also explains why some countries have done better than others.
The report which collected data from analytics researcher Gallup across 149 countries factored in measures including social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP), and levels of corruption.
According to the report, a decline in mental health was noted largely after the lockdown a factor which caused was a major cause for the decline in happiness.
Social connections that were severed with the need for distancing were the second largest factor. The difference in happiness between Uganda and Kenya was brought about by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that measures the economic performance of a country.
The citizen’s perceived freedom of choice on what to do with their life and the level of generosity among the citizens well as the perceived level of corruption were also contributing factors.
Lastly, the report classifies happiness according to the social support provided against life adverse events and the citizens’ imagination of the unpleasant social and political structures in the country.
According to the report released in 2019 Kenya led in the region at position 84 followed by Uganda at position 87 and Tanzania at 94th place.
Do you have a story or an opinion to share? Email us on: [email protected] Or join the Daily Express WhatsApp channel for all the latest news and trends or join the Telegram Channel for the latest updates.
