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)

A Hong Kong Correctional Services Dog Unit (CSDU) officer demonstrates training at the CSDU training facility in Stanley, Hong Kong, China, 27 February 2018. The Hong Kong CSDU consists of 29 staff members divided across six dog teams. According to the department's latest figure from 2017, the average daily penal population of Hong Kong was 8,529. (Photo by Jérôme Favre/EPA/EFE)

A woman walks with her child past a Soyuz rocket, installed as a monument at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, the world's first and largest operational space launch facility, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Saturday, November 12, 2016. The new Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 18. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Derby's Byron MacLean, left, edges out Hall's Joe Nham in the boys 55-meter hurdles at the CIAC State Open indoor track championships at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven, Saturday, February 17, 2024. Lyman Hall's Owen Rich, right, falls after taking down the final hurdle. (Photo by Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP Photo)

Tourists enjoy the rare opportunity to walk in water as they visit Badwater Basin, the normally driest place in the US, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California on February 18, 2024. Badwater Basin, an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, was flooded by Hurricane Hilary in August 2023 and recent rains in California. It is the lowest point in North America, at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. (Photo by David Swanson/AFP Photo)

Winner, photojournalism. Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia Zoo. Visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners. (Photo by Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A group of people walk on the sea wall as a man kayaks through the flooded parking lot in downtown Annapolis, Maryland, on October 29, 2021. The US National Weather Service implemented a flood watch for the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties. Washington, DC, and parts of Virginia faced the same alert. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP Photo)

A Russian soldier takes part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia, Wednesday, December 22, 2021. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Russian and U.S. negotiators will sit down for talks early next year to discuss Moscow's demand for Western guarantees precluding NATO's expansion to Ukraine. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)