New UN survey finds that Irish are among the happiest people in the world

Ireland lands in tenth place for happiest countries in the world

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KERRY O'SHEA,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

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Broke but happy - us Irish are a cheery bunch

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A new United Nations report has found Ireland to be the tenth happiest country of the 156 surveyed in the world. The news comes as bit of a shock with Ireland’s bleak economic forecast.

Journal.ie reports that in the first-ever World Happiness Report by the UN, the Irish population landed in the tenth spot, ahead of both the UK (11th) and the US (18th.) Rankings for the report are based on “an aggregate of annual global polls between 2006 and 2011, and therefore includes Irish responses before and after the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.”

Most impressively, however, Ireland was came out on top for the poll that gauged how happy resident were “yesterday.” On the 1-10 scale, Ireland ranked highest in the world with the  average of most responses being over 9 . Just behind Ireland in the “happiness yesterday” poll were Costa Rica and Denmark.

Countries that are quickly becoming home-away-from-homes for many displaced Irish, Australia and New Zealand, ranked in eighth and ninth respectively on the list for overall happiest in the world.

Denmark is ranked as the happiest country in the world, just ahead of Finland in second and Norway in third proving that Scandinavian nations are the happiest.

Among the least happiest? Georgia was ranked as the unhappiest place on earth, with the Congo, Togo, Armenia and Iraq also ranking low. These countries are, of course, marked by poverty and war so the ranking aren’t all that surprising.

And just because the Irish are so darn cheery here's "When you're laughing":

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