What makes Bangladesh the 15th least happy country in the world?

The World Happiness Report 2024 ranked Bangladesh 129th among 143 countries, putting Bangladesh as the 15th least happy country in the world.

The report, jointly produced by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR's Editorial Board, is based on the Gallup World Poll (GWP).

The happiness ranking is based on the response of around 1000 individuals each year to this question: Evaluate your current life as a whole using the image of a ladder, with the best possible life for you as a 10 and worst possible as a 0.

Respondents answer with a numerical value, and this is called the Cantril Ladder. Data is collected from around 1000 people each year for three years, and then averaged using weights to reflect national population patterns. The average score on this Cantril Ladder is the basis of the world happiness ranking. This year, Bangladesh scored 3.886 out of 10.

To put this into context, the happiest country in the world–Finland–scored 7.741. Afghanistan, the unhappiest country in the world scored 1.721. Our neighbours India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar scored 4.054, 4.657, 3.898, 5.158 and 4.354 respectively.

The World Happiness Report also includes six variables to explain every country's relative standing in the ranking. The report clarifies that these variables are not used to compute the score for the ranking, but they simply offer an explanation for why a country's citizens are evaluating their lives the way they are.

These six variables are: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. Data for the first two variables are taken from the OECD Economic Outlook and WHO, while the last four variables rely on the GWP.

Additionally, the report includes data on the national averages of positive and negative emotional experiences. Both these measures are based on the GWP.

Looking at Bangladesh's performance on these specific variables, the rankings are relatively high on GDP per capita (101st) and healthy life expectancy (81st).

To measure whether people feel like they have someone to count on, survey-takers are asked if they could count on relatives or friends to help them whenever they need. Bangladesh ranked 141st in the world on this metric, or third last, with an average score of 0.448. This means that over 55 percent of Bangladeshis don't think they have someone to count on to help them in their time of need.

Bangladesh ranked 26th in freedom to make life choices. The question "Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?" led to 89.4 percent of respondents saying they were satisfied.

Bangladesh ranked 82nd in generosity, after respondents were asked if they donated to a charity in the month preceding the survey, and the responses were statistically contextualised using the GDP per capita.

On the perception of corruption rankings, 70.5 percent of Bangladeshis said that corruption is widespread throughout the government and within businesses. This gave Bangladesh a ranking of 93rd on the list, where lower means better.

Bangladesh ranked 5th lowest in the world on the positive affect metric, with less than 45 percent of people saying they had positive emotional experiences the day before the survey. Bangladesh ranked 9th on the negative affect metric, with over 44 percent of people saying they had negative emotional experiences on the day before the survey.

The World Happiness Report also provided insights on what age group feels the happiest in Bangladesh. Young people (age below 30) are the happiest with an average score of 4.2 out of 10 when evaluating their lives. Old people, those above 60, are also relatively happy with an average score of 4.124. The saddest age group in Bangladesh is the upper middle age (between 45 and 60), with an average score of 3.576. Lower middle aged people (between 30 and 44) gave their lives 3.608 out of 10 on average.

Overall happiness across the world hasn't changed much in 2021-23 compared to 2006-2010. But in South Asia, happiness has fallen dramatically in recent times, according to the report.

When it comes to negative emotions, women across the world in different age groups feel more of them compared to men. South Asia, as a region, feels more negative emotions than anywhere else in the world.

In general, people feel more negative emotions as they get older. Older women have more negative emotional experiences than any other group, with more than half of older women in South Asia saying they had a negative experience on the day before the survey.