Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in succession while the Netherlands has moved back up one place into fifth position, according to the latest edition of the UN sponsored survey.

Every year, the UN ranks countries in terms of their population’s self-reported wellbeing, as well as perceptions of corruption, health, generosity and freedom.

Last year, Sweden overtook Israel and the Netherlands to take fourth place, pushing the Netherlands into sixth. But Israel has now gone down to eighth place because of the impact of the war in Gaza. Palestine is in 108^th position on the ranking of 147 countries.

The research puts the Netherlands in ninth position overall when it comes to generosity – compared with first place in 2007. At the same time, the Dutch are in 28^th position for social support and 41^st for the population’s perception of “freedom”. The rankings are based on individuals’ assessments of their own lives.

This year the researchers also focused on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness.