Lithuania Is The Happiest Country In The World For People Under 30

Gen Zers and millennials are thriving there. Here's why.

Each year, the World Happiness Report releases an annual ranking of the happiest countries in the world. For the seventh year in a row, Finland earned the top spot overall.

But for people under 30, the top ranking went to Lithuania.

“I think that it can be surprising,” said Junona Almonaitienė, an associate professor in the health psychology department at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. “When you look from the United States, ... it’s somewhere near Russia,” an area that is often linked to danger, she said.

“Lithuania regained its independence not so long ago — it was in 1990,” said Antanas Kairys, an associate professor in the department of general psychology at Vilnius University. “That means that young people under 30 have spent their life entirely in independent Lithuania while other age groups ... experienced the harsh reality of [the] Soviet Union.”

Since then, Lithuania’s economy has improved along with its national relations — the country joined NATO and became a European Union member in 2004. “Lithuania had a really strong transformation of its economy and society, and I think the main factor of this happiness is that Lithuania is ... strong, safe and a modern democracy,” Kairys said.