The World Happiness Report uses the Gallup World Poll, where respondents are asked to evaluate the quality of
their lives on an ladder scale running
from 0 to 10, with the bottom rung of the ladder (0) being the worst possible life for them and 10 being the
best possible.
In darker blue countries, happiness is increasing quickly. Darker red countries have
rapidly falling happiness. Grey countries show approximately steady happiness levels.
Africa seems to be home to some of the extremes.
The nations where happiness is increasing most
quickly, and unfortunately several nations where happiness is losing the most ground, are located in Africa.
Generally speaking, West Africa and Southern Africa show a stark contrast in the direction national happiness is moving.
Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana show some of the most unfavorable trends in
happiness among the world's nations.
These Southern African countries show between -1.5% and -2.5%
change in happiness per year.
However, some West African countries are leading the world in improving happiness.
Among this block of
11 neighboring nations, all show a rapid rise in happiness.
Within this group of nations, Congo (Brazzaville), Togo, and Benin show gains in happiness of more than 2% per year.
In fact, Togo and Benin show the fastest increases in national happiness in the entire world, averaging 3.4%
and 3.2% per year respectively.
According to the World Happiness Report, Benin was ranked
second-to-last (155th) in the world in 2012. In 2020 Benin ranked ahead of China by 7 spots, at 86th.