India ranks 118th in happiness index

Denmark took the top spot as the ‘happiest country’ in the world, displacing Switzerland, according to The World Happiness Report 2016, published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative of the United Nations.

India was ranked 118th in the list, down one slot from last year on the index. The report takes into account the GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices as indicators of happiness.

Switzerland was ranked second on the list, followed by Iceland (3), Norway (4) and Finland (5).

The report said that India was among the group of 10 countries witnessing the biggest happiness declines, along with Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Botswana.

India comes below Somalia (76), China (83), Pakistan (92), Iran (105), Palestinian Territories (108) and Bangladesh (110).

The U.S. is ranked 13th, coming behind Australia (9) and Israel (11).

Inequality, a key parameter

The report, released ahead of the UN World Happiness Day on March 20, for the first time gives a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions.

“People are happier living in societies where there is less inequality of happiness. They also find that happiness inequality has increased significantly (comparing 2012-2015 to 2005-2011) in most countries, in almost all global regions, and for the population of the world as a whole,” the report said.

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Ex-UN chief Boutros Ghali dead

Former United Nations secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali died at a hospital in Cairo on Tuesday, officials said. He was 93. UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed him as a “respected statesman” and a “memorable leader who rendered invaluable services to world peace and international order”.

Boutros-Ghali was earlier admitted to the hospital with a broken pelvis, the BBC reported citing Egypt’s state news agency.

His death was confirmed by Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN and current president of the UN Security Council.

A former Egyptian foreign minister, Boutros-Ghali was the first Arab to serve as UN chief.

He took office in 1992 at a time of increasing influence for the world body following its decisive role in the Gulf War, serving a five-year term.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of my predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali,” Ban said in a statement.

Boutros-Ghali “was a respected statesman” and a “well-known scholar of international law and brought formidable experience and intellectual power to the task of piloting the United Nations through one of the most tumultuous and challenging periods in its history, and guiding the Organisation of the Francophonie in subsequent years”.

Born on November 14, 1922 into a Coptic Christian family in Cairo, he was educated at Cairo University and in Paris.

He later studied international relations at Columbia University in New York and became Egypt’s foreign minister in 1977.

After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served from 1998 to 2002 as secretary-general of La Francophonie, a grouping of French-speaking nations.

In 2004, he was named president of Egypt’s human rights council, a body created by then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Ghali resigned in 2011, the year Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising.

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