The United Nation’s first World Happiness Report places Nigerians in the 100th position, lagging behind South Africans.
The United Nation (UN)’s first comprehensive survey on national mood has rated Nigerians as the 100th happiest people on earth. South Africans and Namibians, according to the study Known as World Happiness Report, are happier than Nigerians. South African are rated 90th. Namibians occupy the 97th slot. The new report comes about two years after Nigeria was described in a 2010 Gallup global poll as having the “happiest people on earth”. The 53- country Gallup poll rated Nigerians at 70 points for optimism. Britain scored a deeply pessimistic -44. The poll of 64,000 people from 53 countries around the world found Nigerians to be the most optimistic in the world in their outlook for 2011. It also found that the most optimistic people mostly live in low income countries, such as Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Peru and Bangladesh. Twenty countries scored low on per capita income and hope for
2011, including Russia and a number of eastern and central Asian states, plus Colombia and Ecuador. Four countries – Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Switzerland – were high on both income and optimism.