The World’s Billionaire Population, by Country

The Relationship Between Wealth and Happiness, by Country

Throughout history, the pursuit of happiness has been a preoccupation of humankind.

Of course, we humans are not just content with measuring our own happiness, but also our happiness in relation to the people around us — and even other people around the world. The annual World Happiness Report, which uses global survey data to report how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries, helps us do just that.

The factors that contribute to happiness are as subjective and specific as the billions of humans they influence, but there are a few that have continued to resonate over time. Family. Love. Purpose. Wealth. The first three examples are tough to measure, but the latter can be analyzed in a data-driven way.

Does money really buy happiness? Let’s find out.

Wealth and Happiness

To crunch the numbers, we looked at data from Credit Suisse, which breaks down the average wealth per adult in various countries around the world.

The table below looks at 146 countries by their happiness score and wealth per adult:

Country	Median Wealth for Adult (US $)	Happiness Score
🇫🇮 Finland	73.775	7.8
🇩🇰 Denmark	165.622	7.6
🇮🇸 Iceland	231.462	7.6
🇨🇭 Switzerland	146.733	7.5
🇮🇱 Israel	80.315	7.4
🇸🇪 Sweden	89.846	7.4
🇳🇴 Norway	117.798	7.4
🇳🇱 Netherlands	136.105	7.4
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	259.899	7.4
🇦🇹 Austria	91.833	7.2
🇳🇿 New Zealand	171.624	7.2
🇦🇺 Australia	238.072	7.2
🇩🇪 Germany	65.374	7.0
🇺🇸 United States	79.274	7.0
🇮🇪 Ireland	99.028	7.0
🇨🇦 Canada	125.688	7.0
🇨🇿 Czech Republic	23.794	6.9
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	131.522	6.9
🇧🇪 Belgium	230.548	6.8
🇫🇷 France	133.559	6.7
🇧🇭 Bahrain	14.520	6.6
🇨🇷 Costa Rica	14.662	6.6
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	21.613	6.6
🇸🇮 Slovenia	67.961	6.6
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	15.495	6.5
🇺🇾 Uruguay	22.088	6.5
🇷🇴 Romania	23.675	6.5
🇽🇰 Kosovo	46.087	6.5
🇸🇬 Singapore	86.717	6.5
🇹🇼 Taiwan	93.044	6.5
🇪🇸 Spain	105.831	6.5
🇮🇹 Italy	118.885	6.5
🇱🇹 Lithuania	29.679	6.4
🇸🇰 Slovakia	45.853	6.4
🇶🇦 Qatar	83.680	6.4
🇲🇹 Malta	84.390	6.4
🇧🇷 Brazil	3.469	6.3
🇵🇦 Panama	13.147	6.3
🇬🇹 Guatemala	30.586	6.3
🇪🇪 Estonia	38.901	6.3
🇳🇮 Nicaragua	3.694	6.2
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	12.029	6.2
🇷🇸 Serbia	14.954	6.2
🇨🇱 Chile	17.747	6.2
🇱🇻 Latvia	33.884	6.2
🇨🇾 Cyprus	35,300	6.2
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	7.821	6.1
🇸🇻 El Salvador	11.372	6.1
🇲🇽 Mexico	13.752	6.1
🇵🇱 Poland	23.550	6.1
🇭🇺 Hungary	24.126	6.1
🇲🇺 Mauritius	27.456	6.1
🇰🇼 Kuwait	28.698	6.1
🇭🇷 Croatia	34.945	6.1
🇦🇷 Argentina	2.157	6.0
🇭🇳 Honduras	15.380	6.0
🇵🇹 Portugal	61.306	6.0
🇯🇵 Japan	122.980	6.0
🇵🇭 Philippines	3.155	5.9
🇯🇲 Jamaica	5.976	5.9
🇲🇩 Moldova	7.577	5.9
🇹🇭 Thailand	8.036	5.9
🇬🇷 Greece	57.595	5.9
🇰🇷 South Korea	89.671	5.9
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	2.238	5.8
🇲🇳 Mongolia	2.546	5.8
🇨🇴 Colombia	4,854	5.8
🇧🇾 Belarus	12.168	5.8
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	15.283	5.8
🇲🇾 Malaysia	8.583	5.7
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	22.701	5.7
🇵🇾 Paraguay	3.644	5.6
🇧🇴 Bolivia	3.804	5.6
🇵🇪 Peru	5.445	5.6
🇨🇳 China	24.067	5.6
🇻🇳 Vietnam	4.559	5.5
🇷🇺 Russia	5.431	5.5
🇪🇨 Ecuador	5.444	5.5
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	9.030	5.5
🇲🇪 Montenegro	30.739	5.5
🇳🇵 Nepal	1.437	5.4
🇹🇯 Tajikistan	1.844	5.4
🇦🇲 Armenia	9.411	5.4
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	17.403	5.4
🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR	173.768	5.4
🇱🇾 Libya	6.512	5.3
🇧🇩 Bangladesh	3.062	5.2
🇿🇦 South Africa	4.523	5.2
🇮🇩 Indonesia	4,693	5.2
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	5.022	5.2
🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire	6.621	5.2
🇦🇱 Albania	15.363	5.2
🇲🇰 North Macedonia	51.788	5.2
🇬🇲 The Gambia	658	5.2
🇱🇷 Liberia	1.464	5.1
🇱🇦 Laos	1.610	5.1
🇩🇿 Algeria	2.302	5.1
🇺🇦 Ukraine	2.529	5.1
🇲🇦 Morocco	3.874	5.1
🇨🇬 Congo	582	5.1
🇸🇳 Senegal	1,570	5.0
🇬🇪 Georgia	4.223	5.0
🇬🇦 Gabon	4,685	5.0
🇲🇿 Mozambique	345	5.0
🇳🇪 Niger	492	5.0
🇨🇲 Cameroon	941	5.0
🇬🇭 Ghana	2.198	4.9
🇮🇶 Iraq	6.378	4.9
🇻🇪 Venezuela	7.341	4.9
🇮🇷 Iran	7.621	4.9
🇬🇳 Guinea	938	4.9
🇹🇷 Turkey	8.001	4.7
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	622	4.7
🇰🇲 Comoros	1.466	4.6
🇳🇬 Nigeria	1.474	4.6
🇰🇭 Cambodia	2.031	4.6
🇺🇬 Uganda	646	4.6
🇧🇯 Benin	890	4.6
🇵🇰 Pakistan	2.187	4.5
🇳🇦 Namibia	3.677	4.5
🇰🇪 Kenya	3.683	4.5
🇹🇳 Tunisia	6.177	4.5
🇲🇱 Mali	869	4.5
🇲🇲 Myanmar	2.458	4.4
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	8.802	4.4
🇨🇩 DR Congo	356	4.4
🇪🇬 Egypt	6.329	4.3
🇹🇩 Chad	355	4.3
🇲🇬 Madagascar	666	4.3
🇲🇷 Mauritania	1.037	4.2
🇾🇪 Yemen	1.223	4.2
🇪🇹 Ethiopia	1.527	4.2
🇯🇴 Jordan	10.842	4.2
🇹🇬 Togo	468	4.1
🇮🇳 India	3.194	3.8
🇲🇼 Malawi	606	3.8
🇿🇲 Zambia	692	3.8
🇹🇿 Tanzania	1.433	3.7
🇭🇹 Haiti	193	3.6
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	370	3.6
🇧🇼 Botswana	3.680	3.5
🇱🇸 Lesotho	264	3.5
🇷🇼 Rwanda	1.266	3.3
🇱🇧 Lebanon	18.159	3.0
🇸🇸 South Sudan	2.677	2.9
🇦🇫 Afghanistan	734	2.4

While the results don’t definitively point to wealth contributing to happiness, there is a strong correlation across the board. Broadly speaking, the world’s poorest countries have the lowest happiness scores, and the richest report being the most happy.

Regional and Country-Level Observations

While many of the countries follow an obvious trend (more wealth = more happiness), there are nuances and outliers worth exploring.

• In Latin Americapeople self-report more happiness than the trend between wealth and happiness would predict.
• On the flip side, many nations in the Middle East report slightly less happiness than levels of wealth would predict.
• Political turmoil, an economic crisis, and the devastating explosion in Beirut have resulted in Lebanon scoring far worse than would be expected. Over the past decade, the country’s score has fallen by nearly two full points.
• Hong Kong has seen its happiness score sink for years now. Inequality, protests, instability, and now COVID-19 outbreaks have placed the region in an unusual zone on the chart: rich and unhappy.

Examining Inequality and Happiness

We’ve looked at the relationship between wealth and happiness between countries, but what about within countries?

The Gini Coefficient is a tool that allows us to do just that. This measure looks at income distribution across a population, and applies a score to that population. Simply put, a score of 0 would be “perfect equality”, and 1 would be “perfect inequality” (ie an individual or group of recipients is receiving the entire income distribution).

Combined with the same happiness scale as before, this is how countries shape up.

While there is no ironclad conclusion that can be derived from this dataset, there are big picture observations worth highlighting.

The 15 Countries With Highest Income Inequality

Countries with High inequality	Happiness Score	Gini Score
🇿🇦 South Africa	5.2	0.63
🇳🇦 Namibia	4.5	0.59
🇿🇲 Zambia	3.8	0.57
🇨🇴 Colombia	5.8	0.54
🇲🇿 Mozambique	5.0	0.54
🇧🇼 Botswana	3.5	0.53
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	3.0	0.50
🇵🇦 Panama	6.3	0.50
🇨🇷 Costa Rica	6.6	0.49
🇧🇷 Brazil	6.3	0.49
🇬🇹 Guatemala	6.3	0.48
🇭🇳 Honduras	6.0	0.48
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	4.7	0.47
🇪🇨 Ecuador	5.5	0.47
🇨🇲 Cameroon	5.0	0.47
Average	5.2	52

First, countries with lower income inequality tend to also report more happiness. The 15 countries in this dataset with the highest inequality (shown above) have an average happiness score 1.3 lower than the 15 countries with the lowest inequality (shown below).

The 15 Countries With Lowest Income Inequality

Countries with low inequality	Happy Score	Gini Score
🇸🇰 Slovakia	6.4	23.2
🇧🇾 Belarus	5.8	24.4
🇸🇮 Slovenia	6.6	24.4
🇦🇲 Armenia	5.4	25.2
🇨🇿 Czech Republic	6.9	25.3
🇺🇦 Ukraine	5.1	25.6
🇲🇩 Moldova	5.9	26
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	6.6	26
🇮🇸 Iceland	7.6	26.1
🇧🇪 Belgium	6.8	27.2
🇩🇰 Denmark	7.6	27.7
🇫🇮 Finland	7.8	27.7
🇳🇴 Norway	7.4	27.7
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	6.2	27.8
🇭🇷 Croatia	6.1	28.9
Average	6.5	26

Next, interesting regional differences emerge.

Despite high income inequality, many Latin American countries report levels of happiness similar to many much-wealthier European nations.

The Bottom Line

People have been seeking understanding on happiness for millennia now, and it’s unlikely that slicing and dicing datasets will crack the code. Still though, much like the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of understanding is human nature.

And, in more concrete terms, the more policymakers and the public understand the link between wealth and happiness, the more likely we can shape societies that give us a better chance at living a happy life.