A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
The UAE has been ranked the happiest country in the Arab world and placed 21st globally in the World Happiness Report 2026, ahead of countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
The UAE retained its position from the previous edition, scoring 6.821 points on a 10-point scale of average life evaluation, based on data covering the 2023–2025 period.
The rankings are derived from a three-year average of people’s assessments of their quality of life, helping to smooth out year-to-year fluctuations. Key factors influencing the rankings include GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
The UAE’s strong performance is supported by high income levels, with GDP per capita at $69,564, and a healthy life expectancy of 67.3 years. Positive emotions were found to outweigh negative feelings among residents, contributing to an overall sense of wellbeing.
Among other Arab countries, Saudi Arabia ranked just behind the UAE at 22nd globally, followed by Kuwait at 40th. Bahrain was placed 55th, Oman 58th, Libya 81st and Algeria 83rd. Further down the rankings were Iraq at 95th, Morocco at 112th and Jordan at 119th, while Egypt ranked 139th and Lebanon 141st.
Globally, Finland remained the world’s happiest country for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica and Sweden. No predominantly English-speaking countries entered the top 10 for the second year in a row, with the United States ranked 23rd and the United Kingdom 29th.
This year’s report places particular emphasis on the impact of social media on wellbeing, especially among young people. It finds that heavy social media use is generally associated with lower life satisfaction, higher stress and increased depressive symptoms, although the extent of the impact varies across regions.
The report notes that adolescents using social media for more than seven hours a day report significantly lower wellbeing compared to those with limited use. While the link is strongest in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, heavy use is still associated with higher stress levels in the Middle East and North Africa, despite overall stable youth wellbeing in the region.
The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.