Azerbaijan among happiest countries, according to int'l ranking

Azerbaijan is among the top five countries in the world with the highest happiness index, Report informs with reference to the data of the global survey of the international association of independent research agencies Gallup International.

According to the GIA Happiness Index, the five happiest countries are: Colombia (+79), Kazakhstan (+76), Albania (+74), Malaysia (+73), Azerbaijan (+70). The top five unhappy ones are Ghana (+2 only), Afghanistan (+9), Hong Kong (+11), Iraq (17) and Russia (+18).

It also provides statistics for the countries with the best and worst performing in the Hope Index, where the top five optimistic countries include: Indonesia (+72), Albania (+65), Azerbaijan (+53), Nigeria (+51), Mexico and Vietnam (both with a net score of +47). The five pessimists include Turkey (-34), Bulgaria (-34), Afghanistan (-32), Poland (-30) and the Czech Republic (-25).

Economic optimism about expectations in 2022 clearly prevails over pessimism in countries such as Nigeria (61% of optimists), Indonesia (58%), Vietnam (55%) and Azerbaijan (52%), Albania and India (both 49%).

Economic hardship expectations are most common in Turkey (72% expect hardship), Bosnia and Herzegovina (72%), Bulgaria (64%), Poland (64%), Romania (61%), Afghanistan (60%) and Germany (59%).