The 2015 edition of the World Happiness Report has been released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), revealing the changes in happiness levels in 158 countries. The report has been produced since 2012 to encourage world leaders to pursue a sustainable development agenda that includes wellbeing as an essential element.

Containing analysis from leading experts in economics, neuroscience, national statistics, the report describes how measurements of subjective wellbeing can be used effectively to assess national progress.

Looking at country trends, regional indicators, factors in gender and age, as well as the importance of investing in social capital, the results reveal five countries with the highest levels of happiness – beginning with the most happy – Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

Co-editor Professor John F Helliwell of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research said: “We are encouraged that more and more governments around the world are listening and responding with policies that put wellbeing first. Countries with strong social and institutional capital not only support greater wellbeing, but are more resilient to social and economic crises.”

On a scale from 0 to 10, people in more than 150 countries – surveyed by Gallup over the period 2012-2015 – reveal a score of 5.1 out of 10 for happiness. Six key variables explain roughly three quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity.

According to the report, all measures of individual and national-level wellbeing – including emotions and life evaluations – are strongly influenced by the quality of surrounding social norms and institutions. These include family and friendships at the individual level, the presence of trust and empathy at neighbourhood and community levels, and power and quality of overarching social norms that determine the quality of life within and among nations and generations. The report states that when these social factors are well-rooted and readily available, communities and nations are more resilient.

This survey echoes the goal of the Global Wellness Institute, led by Susie Ellis, to ‘build a well world’ and encourage world leaders to form ‘ministries of wellness’ to harmonise nation’s policies with the concept of making the world a more sustainable and healthy place to live.

A push for collaboration between different experts to create better policies for human wellbeing has been recognised previously in a study, published in the journal Ecosystem Services. This report found that communication and collaboration between researchers, public health and land use officials could lead to rapid progress in the investigation of the impact of urban policies on human health and wellbeing.