India ranked 116th in the World Happiness Report 2026 even as Finland continued its winning streak by ranking as the happiest nation in the world once again.The report was released by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre that rates nations based on how people evaluate and view their lives. Although countries from the Nordic countries top the list, countries such as Costa Rica marked significant improvements.India is placed at position 116, a slight improvement from its 118th position in the last report. The country’s low average life evaluation score at 4.536, shows that it still has a long way to go in various aspects of well-being.While the country shows improvement in areas like social support and life expectancy, challenges such as economic inequality, stress levels, and limited work-life balance continue to affect overall life satisfaction. Despite these hurdles, efforts to enhance well-being and community support are gradually contributing to better happiness outcomes.In the South Asian region, Pakistan is placed higher than India, at position 104 with an average life evaluation score of 4.868, while Sri Lanka is placed at position 99. However, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan are placed below India, at positions 127, 134, and 147, respectively.Alongside Finland, countries such as Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway feature prominently in the top 10 in the Report. These nations are often characterized by strong public institutions, low corruption, and high standards of living, all of which contribute to higher life satisfaction.The rankings are based on responses from around 1,00,000 people across 140 countries and territories, where participants rate their own lives on a scale from 0 (worst) to 10 (best). The final score is based on six main indicators — GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.Despite changing world dynamics, Finland remains the happiest country in the world, a position it has now held for nearly a decade. Experts point to a mix of strong social support, widespread trust, generous welfare systems, and healthy life expectancy as reasons Finns report higher life satisfaction. Nordic models of work–life balance and equality continue to set them apart globally.Costa Rica has made a significant leap, securing the fourth position after being ranked 23rd in 2023. The rapid increase reflects the community, environmental, and happiness aspects in the country despite low economic factors.Israel ranks in the 8th position with a mean value for life evaluation equal to 7.187. Despite the geopolitical issues, the country has excelled in social cohesion and the assessment of the quality of life, as the life expectancy is higher at 70.8.At the other end of the scale, countries affected by ongoing conflict, such as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Malawi, remain at the bottom of the happiness ladder.Meanwhile, the report found some notable facts, and one of the most prominent is the concern over the use of social media by younger generations. In countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, there is a notable decrease in life satisfaction levels among individuals under the age of 25.The report found this to be associated with the amount of time spent on screens and social media, which is linked to high levels of stress and depression. However, in countries like the Middle East and Africa, moderate usage was found to be positively correlated with life satisfaction.Teenage girls, in particular, appear to be more affected by extensive social media scrolling than other groups, prompting calls from experts for more careful digital habits and even regulations in some nations.This issue is gaining traction with policymakers as several countries review or tighten social media rules for minors.