We’re all familiar with the saying that ‘money can’t buy happiness’, but does being healthy lead to happiness? To find out, the team at Lenstore has analysed the happiest countries from the World Happiness Report against a variety of health metrics to uncover the correlation between the two.
Finland ranked as the happiest and healthiest country in the world.
Finland comes out as the happiest country globally, but how does this correlate to citizens’ health? With an excellent healthcare system available for all residents, alongside a life expectancy of 76 and a high happiness score of 7.8 out of 10, Finland comes out on top as a healthy, happy country.
| Rank | Country | Health care index | Life expectancy at birth | Healthcare access and quality index | People with visual impairments (%) | Prevalence of insufficient physical activity (2016) | Happiness index |
| 1 | Finland | 76.0 | 72.0 | 89.6 | 6.84% | 16.56 | 7.8 |
| 2 | Denmark | 80.2 | 72.7 | 85.7 | 6.20% | 28.5 | 7.6 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 73.1 | 74.4 | 91.8 | 6.40% | 23.75 | 7.6 |
| 4 | Iceland | 65.6 | 73.0 | 93.6 | 5.39% | N/A | 7.5 |
| 5 | Norway | 74.5 | 73.3 | 90.5 | 6.09% | 31.7 | 7.5 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 75.7 | 72.4 | 89.5 | 5.09% | 27.18 | 7.4 |
| 7 | Sweden | 69.2 | 72.7 | 90.5 | 5.70% | 23.13 | 7.4 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 73.8 | 73.4 | 86.2 | 5.02% | 42.38 | 7.3 |
| 9 | Austria | 78.6 | 73.3 | 88.2 | 6.47% | 30.09 | 7.3 |
| 10 | Canada | 71.8 | 73.8 | 87.6 | 4.84% | 28.6 | 7.2 |
Finland also ranks sixth in the healthcare access and quality index, showing the link between healthiness and happiness.
