Despite war Israel remains high in Happiness Index

Israelis are ranked eighth in the World Happiness Index, despite the ongoing war and missile attacks of recent years, according to the latest report conducted by Gallup. The report ranks countries according to the Cantril Scale, which examines “subjective sense of well-being.” Israel and Costa Rica (in fourth place) are the only non-European countries in the top ten of the index, which is published annually based on a global survey that includes hundreds of thousands of respondents.

The survey is based on an identical question addressed to citizens of 147 countries: “Imagine a scale, the steps of which are numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. The top of the scale symbolizes the best possible life for you, and the bottom of the scale symbolizes the worst possible life for you. On which step of the scale do you feel you are standing at this point in time?” The annual ranking is determined based on the average of the last three years.

In Israel, the average for the past three years has been 7.187, with the figure from 2023 – after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 – reflecting a dramatic decline to 21st place in the world. Since then, in 2024 and 2025, Israelis have returned to the world’s top ten, and the score itself has also increased from last year, although in an international comparison, Israel remains in eighth place. The survey’s authors said that the multi-year average is intended to neutralize the effects of isolated crises.

The Deep sources of Israeli resilience

In first place in the ranking, as last year, is Finland (7.764). Followed by: Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Israel and Luxembourg. Switzerland rounds out the top ten. The Nordic welfare state model is believed to explain the relative happiness of the residents of these countries, due to the importance of social support (granted by the state, and not necessarily the family as in other societies). As for countries like Costa Rica and Mexico (12th place), cultural perceptions may play a central role, but researchers are still unable to fully explain the findings.

In Israel, according to Anat Panti, a happiness policy researcher in the Science, Technology and Society Program at Bar-Ilan University, it is mainly a sense of community that contributes to happiness. “The deep sources of Israeli resilience: family, community, faith, a sense of belonging and strong social ties – still manage to keep large parts of society well above the global average,” said Panti.

She says that one of the particularly striking figures this year is that, broken down by age group, Israelis under the age of 25 are ranked as the happiest age group within the Israeli population and in third place in the world. “The fact that Israel still ranks eighth in the world, and in particular that young Israelis rank third, is indicative of the strengths of the population in Israel relative to other countries,” she said.

However, in other indicators examined, there was a deterioration in Israeli responses. In the indicators about worry, sadness and anger – negative emotions experienced by the population – Israel jumped from 119th place before the war to 39th. In the Corruption Perceptions Index, it fell to 107th place, compared with 80th place in 2021.

“The rise in the indicators about concern and anger and the erosion of public trust make it clear that resilience is not immunity,” added Panti. According to Panti, the survey on which the current ranking is based was conducted in July 2025, after the campaign against Iran but before the release of the hostages from Gaza. In her assessment, the level of negative feelings in the Israeli public would have decreased if the survey had been conducted after October 2025.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 19, 2026.

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