The World Happiness Report (and Japan's standing)

Something I enjoy checking out each year when it's released is the World Happiness Report, which (as the name suggests) looks at how happy different countries are around the world. It's based on a number of metrics including things like GDP, social support, and freedom, and Finland came in first place for 2025. I find that the countries in that Nordic region always seem to do well!

How about Japan, though?

It took a bit more scrolling to find on the map, let's say that much. Japan came in at 55th position, and the full breakdown about the scores can be found here. A few weak areas included generosity (130th place!) which was measured by whether someone had donated to a charity in the past month, and freedom (79th place) which was measured with the question "are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?"

Interestingly, last year Japan came in 48th place, so there has been a drop of 7 ranking spots in just 12 months. 

In contrast, my home country of Australia came in 11th place.

Have you taken a look at the World Happiness Report rankings for the year? Are there any surprises on there, and is your home country "happier" than Japan?