Well, this comes as no surprise. Kenya is one of the unhappiest countries in the world according to the latest finding by the United Nations.
The UN World Happiness Report 2018 has ranked Kenya at position 124 out of 156 countries, making us some of the most miserable people in the world.
However, we can find little comfort in the fact that we are the happiest in the East African region. Kenya is followed by Uganda (135) Sudan (137), Rwanda (151), Tanzania(153), South Sudan (154) and Burundi at (156).
The coveted top position was clinched by Finland, followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. The Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia round out the top ten.
The United States, 14th last year, is now 18th, while the United Kingdom is in 19th, the same spot it occupied in 2017.
The bottom 10 nations were Malawi (148), Haiti, Liberia, Syria, Rwanda, Yemen, Tanzania, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Burundi.
Among factors making Africans unhappy are lack of jobs, minimal access to health care and high levels of corruption. Ain’t that the story of our lives?
Last year, Kenya took position 112 out of 155 countries and position 122 globally in the 2016 report.
Who will save us from the negative spiral? The recent Uhuru-Raila handshake perhaps?
The social happiness list is calculated using measures for factors like levels of caring, freedom to make life decisions, generosity, good governance, honesty, health and income.
For the first time, this year’s study also evaluated happiness from the point of view of migrants in each country.
A total of 156 countries took part in the survey, which is is compiled using Gallup polls asking people to evaluate various aspects of their lives on a scale from 0 to 10.
