Balkans Not Very Joyful, UN Report Says

With the partial exception of Romania, the Balkans is not a very happy part of the planet, according to the latest World Happiness Report 2018, produced by the UN's sustainable development solutions network, SDSN.

Nordic countries followed by Switzerland, Holland and Canada predictably came top of the table, which ranks countries on a complex combination of indices including as income, life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and polls on wellbeing.

 In the Balkan and former Yugoslav region, Slovenia and Romania came top, ranked 51st and 52nd place respectively, followed by Kosovo and Moldova, at 66 and 67.

 Other Balkan countries were in the bottom half of the 156 countries tested, however, with Serbia ranked in 78th place, Montenegro and Croatia at 81 and 82, Macedonia at 89 and Bosnia at 93rd place.

 Bulgarians may be shocked, however, to find themselves ranked only just above the semi-failed state of Venezuela and occupied Palestine, in 100th place.

 However, they can take some comfort, as Albania ranked even lower, in 112th place, just above a swathe of disaster stricken African countries.

Interestingly, however, several Balkan countries, including Serbia and Bulgaria, were in the top ten countries whose 2015-17 rankings had, in fact, improved most, compared to the 2008-10 period.

 America's relatively low ranking, in 18th place, reflected the fact that the US "is in the midst of a complex and worsening public health crisis, involving epidemics of obesity, opioid addiction, and major depressive disorder that are all remarkable by global standards," the report said. 

Continue reading on: