Saudi Arabia has come third in a poll for the world's happiest countries - in a list which features almost no European. The research was carried out by WIN/Gallup International, a polling association which interviewed 66,040 people from 68 countries. The kingdom has only been pipped to top position by Fiji and Colombia. At an average temperature of about 26C in January, the beautiful Fiji islands have an evident advantage. Fiji has an average all-year round temperature of 26 C and apparently happy citizens. Indeed, nearby Mexico ranked as the world's eighth happiest country. The findings suggest that either people have different perceptions of what "happiness" means, or that material wealth, ideological freedom and civil stability do not necessarily translate into personal contentedness. China and Fiji are also two of the most hopeful nations, with China also the third most optimistic about economic prosperity. Nigerians are the most optimistic about their economy. Europe, meanwhile, barely made it into the top 10 countries for happiness. Iceland, which has one of the highest percentage of women working outside the home, was the only European country to make the top 10, sharing joint tenth position with China. Italy is the least hopeful nation out of their 68 nations surveyed, while Greece is the third most unhappy country - and France and Italy tie as the 10th most unhappy. As 2015 came to an end, 66% of respondents to the WIN/Gallup International survey said that they are happy, down slightly from 70% in 2014. Of the 66040 people surveyed, 10% said that they were unhappy, up 4% from 2014. Overall, that means that the world is 56% net happy (happiness minus unhappiness). In 2015 the net happiest country in the world is Colombia (85%), in stark contrast the world's unhappiest country is Iraq at -12% net happiness. The study showed that 45% of the world is optimistic for the economic outlook in 2016 over double (22%) of those who are pessimistic. It's perhaps unsurprising that Greece is the most pessimistic (-65% net optimistic) country given their current perilous financial position. The most optimistic nation when it comes to the economy is Nigeria (61% net optimism). When it comes to a demographic breakdown young people prove to be considerably more optimistic than older generations with 31% net optimistic for the under 34s compared to just 13% for the over 55s. As part of their analysis WIN/Gallup International has grouped the world into three tiers: Prosperous (the G7); Emerging (G20 excluding the original G7) and Aspiring (all others) nations. Whilst there is huge disparity in income levels across these three tiers, the level of net happiness across all three (Prosperous 42%, Emerging 59% and Aspiring 54%) is notably high. However the findings on hope and economic optimism vary markedly across the tiers. According to the global poll, Prosperous nations display the least hope and economic optimism with 6% and -16% respectively; to the contrary Emerging nations are very hopeful about the future and far more optimistic about the economic outlook at 50% and 36% meanwhile the Aspiring nations sit between the two on hope (29%) and economic optimism (16%). Jean-Marc Leger, President of the Association, said: "2015 has been a tumultuous year for many across the globe, despite that the world remains largely a happy place. 45% of the world is optimistic regarding the economic outlook for 2016, up by 3 percent compared to last year." — SG
