Yesterday on 20th March was the World Happiness Day and the United Nations (UN) has ranked Malawi as the fourth least happiest country, slipping eight places since last year.

The Warm Heart of Africa is rated 144th on the 147-nation happiness index topped by Finland for the eighth year in a row.

This means President Lazarus Chakwera could be leading one of the world’s unhappiest nations despite his promise to create a better Malawi for all.

The self-crowned peace-loving country perches just three places above the Taliban-led Afghanistan, which is billed the least happiest nation worldwide partly due to the severe restrictions on the rights of women, who constitute over half of the country’s population.

Only Sierra Leone, which slipped six places from 140th last year and Lebanon, down by three places, split Malawians from the Afghans on the world rankings.

Southern Africa dominates the least happiest countries, with Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros and Lesotho completing the bottom six alongside Yemen, ranked 140th.

Malawi prides itself as a peace-loving country, but it is currently rocked with resurgent mass protests against economic and political hardship six months before the September 16 General Elections.

The global perception survey shows the overall ratings are especially low in countries wracked by violence, notably Afghanistan and Lebanon.

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions produces the report in partnership with Gallup and the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre.

The survey asks each participant to score their life as a whole and rankings are based on those life ratings. It assesses six key variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

The 2025 findings, which focussed on sharing and caring, show that happiness balances largely on trust, relationships and generosity, not necessarily on just economic power.

NPL