Malta has ranked 37th in the world according to the World Happiness Report, which is a yearly report compiled by a group of independent experts.

“It is exactly ten years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/281, proclaiming 20 March to be observed annually as International Day of Happiness,” the report said.

The report said that income, health, having someone to count on, having a sense of freedom to make key life decisions, generosity, and the absence of corruption all play strong roles in supporting life evaluations.

The measurement of well-being relies on random sampling of subjective life evaluations. The Gallup World Poll, which is the main source of data, asks respondents to evaluate their current life using a 10-point scale, with a 10 representing the best possible life and a 0 representing the worst.

Happiness rankings are based on a three-year average of these life evaluations, since the larger sample size enables more precise estimates.

Malta places 37th on the ranking, with an average happiness score of 6.3.

Finland, Denmark, and Iceland place first, second, and third respectively, with Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan falling in last places out of the total of the 137 countries ranked.