The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

Schoolchildren play music to entertain and inspire people on their way home from work Tuesday, March 29, 2016 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has called a 70-day loyalty drive areas of a major congress of the ruling party scheduled for early May and everyone from students to coal miners have been mobilized nationwide to demonstrate their devotion to the leadership. (Photo by Eric Talmadge/AP Photo)

The 30th anniversary of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant that caused large amounts of radioactive particles to be released into the air will be commemorated on April 26, 2016. Photojournalist Sean Gallup returned to the area to document the lasting effects of the world's worst nuclear power plant accident. Pictured, children's beds are seen in an abandoned kindergarten in Kopachi village located inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone, September 29, 2015, near Chernobyl, Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The maid-themed cafe in Hangzhou, China on September 29, 2016. A cafe has been bringing in droves of new customers after hiring young women to dress up in Frech maid costumes while serving diners. Curious coffee- and coffee-lovers are coming from all corners of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, to get a taste of the “maid cafe” experience. The business is said to have been opened by a man surnamed Yu and his friends, all whom are natives or graduates of the city. The all-female staff who donned the black and white French maid outfits are also students currenting living or studying in Hangzhou, allowing them to marry their passion for serving with the part-time job. (Photo by AsiaWire)

In this photo taken on August 29, 2024, an Afghan burqa-clad woman walks past an energy drink advertisement at Kandahar airport in Kandahar. The Taliban government has purged many signs of Western influence but a stimulant drink craze that arrived with US soldiers remains, and has even sprouted a thriving domestic industry. Alcohol is outlawed in Afghanistan but caffeine-rich energy drinks are guzzled by secret police, fed by mothers to suckling children and advertised on billboards more than even Taliban state propaganda. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

French performer Odile De Mainville applies a makeup backstage before the Parisian transvestite cabaret show at “Madame Arthur” in Paris, on September 29, 2023. Open since 1946, Madame Arthur is the oldest transformist cabaret in Paris. Threatened with extinction the cabaret is undergoing a renaissance, attracting younger customers by returning to the fundamentals of the lie: baroque and queer performers who play with genres and conventions, and sing French hits live. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

Reuters photographer Carlos Barria recently spent time in Shanghai, China, the fastest-growing city in the world. A week ago, he took this amazing shot, recreating the same framing and perspective as a photograph taken in 1987, showing what a difference 26 years can make. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters/Stringer via The Atlantic)

Hot air balloons rise over Innes Common Park during a dawn lift on March 29, 2012 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Each Autumn over 30 hot air balloons grace the sky as part of the Balloons Over Waikato Festival. (Photo by Sandra Mu/Getty Images)