Happy International Day of Happiness!

Meet the top 10 happiest countries (2016) according to the World Happiness Report.  As you scroll  down the graphic, try to identify each country.  The answers are below it.

The World’s Top 10 Happiest Countries

1.  Denmark 
2.  Switzerland
3.  Iceland
4.  Norway
5.  Finland
6.  Canada
7.  The Netherlands
8.  New Zealand
9.  Australia
10.  Sweden

Student Activities

1. Locate each country on a world map.

• What continent does the country belong to?
• Who are its neighbors?
• What are the nearest bodies of water?
• What is the country’s capital?

• Is every continent represented on the list?
• Which continent has the most countries in the top 10?  Which has the least?
• What geographic similarities and differences are there among the 10 countries?
• What do you think the people in those countries have in common?

2. Read about each country by clicking on its name above.  Read more at

• National Geographic Kids
• Time for Kids

4. Write an acrostic poem using the word HAPPY or HAPPINESS.

5. Journal Writing

• If you could live in one of these countries, which one would you choose and why?
• What makes you happy?
• What are ways you can make others happy?
• Make a list of the reasons why a country would be named, “One of the Happiest Countries in the World?”