Israel has been officially assessed as one of the happiest countries in the world, coming in at ninth place in an official global report.

The newly published annual World Happiness Report (WHR) from the United Nations reveals how people evaluate their lives in more than 150 countries.

In this, the tenth year of the WHR, Israel has climbed up to no9 for its highest ever showing – up from 11th place in 2021 and 14th the year before.

Top of the list was Finland, with an overall happiness quotient of 7.821, with Denmark at no2 and Iceland at no3. For Israel, the figure was 7.364 – barely behind Norway in eighth place on 7.365. The US was placed at 16th and the UK at 17th.

The figures are based on polling around 1,000 respondents in each country, asking each subject to evaluate the quality of their life, focusing also on positive emotions such as enjoyment and negative emotions such as sadness or worry.

Other factors going into the index include per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption.

The figures are the latest average of results from 2019-2021.

Bottom of the list was Afghanistan in 146th place, with Lebanon 145th.

The report is published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.