World Happiness Index 2017 - An interactive activity

The latest version of the World Happiness Index has been released, showing the 'happiness' levels in countries around the world. The key point about this index for students of economics is that the Index offers an alternative way of measuring the impact of government activity beyond the seemingly simplistic method of just looking at GDP per head or growth in GDP. The interesting aspect of the report this year is how a whole chapter on the world's wealthiest country (the USA) features so lowly on this index (well, in comparison to other less wealthy nations). Students may like to refer to this index when discussing the impact of global economic policies or globalisation generally.

The activity below is a simple ranking resource that can be done, either as a class exercise on screen if you have the technology or individually on either PC, Mac or mobile devices.

The 10 countries listed are not the 'Top 10' (the lowest ranked nation is 21st) so players just need to rank based upon relative position. Enjoy!