Saudi Arabia has made a major milestone in the World Happiness Report 2026, jumping 15 places to secure the 22nd spot.
The World Happiness Report is released annually by the Oxford Wellbeing Research Center on March 20 to mark the UN International Day of Happiness. It involves collaboration with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an editorial board.
The ranking is based on how people evaluate their lives across 147 countries. It employs data gathered by the Gallup World Poll and analyzes a number of factors, including social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
In this year’s edition, Saudi Arabia has overtaken several major economies, such as the US (23), Canada (25), and the UK (29). The Kingdom secured an average life evaluation score of 6.817 out of 10.
This has put Saudi Arabia in the second place with regards to the Arab region, just behind the UAE, which ranked 21st. Additionally, the Kingdom surpassed other Arab nations by a wide gap, with Kuwait ranking 40th.
The new ranking underscores reforms and efforts undertaken by Saudi Arabia in recent years, in line with Vision 2030. These include projects and initiatives launched under the Quality of Life Program, which aims to improve the standards of living and liveability, and promote various quality-of-life related sectors, such as urban landscape, security, culture and heritage, sports, tourism, and entertainment.
