Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Finland retained its title as the happiest country in the world according to the 2021 UN World Happiness Report released on Friday. In that report, Croatia was ranked 60th among 149 countries surveyed.

“Finland has always ranked very high on the measures of mutual trust that have helped to protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic. The rankings overall remained very similar to last year,” the study’s authors, which relies on data from the Gallup World Poll, said.

The Covid-19 pandemic had claimed two million lives throughout the world in 2020, which is nearly 4 percent more compared to the usual annual mortality statistics. The report comments on economic cost of the pandemic and effects on the mental health of the population.

“As one would expect with lockdowns and physical distancing, the pandemic had a significant effect on workforce well-being. Falling unemployed during the pandemic is associated with a 12 percent drop in life satisfaction… Strikingly, we find that among people who stopped work due to furlough or redundancy, the impact on life satisfaction was 40 percent more severe for individuals that felt lonely to begin with,” said one of the study’s authors, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve.

“The pandemic reminds us of our global environmental threats, the urgent need to cooperate, and the difficulties of achieving cooperation in each country and globally,” Jeffrey D. Sachs from the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University said.

The index is based on factors such as GDP per capita, life expectancy, freedom, perception of corruption in the government and business enterprises.

As usual, northern European countries top the list. Finland in first place is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Luxembourg. New Zealand is the highest ranked non-European country at 9th, and Austria is 10th.

Croatia is 60th with a total overall score of 5.882, placing it in the middle among former Yugoslav countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina (64th), Montenegro (72nd) and Macedonia (94th) fared worse, while people in Slovenia (29th), Kosovo (33rd) and Serbia (48th) are reportedly happier than Croatians. Italy ranks 28th and Hungary 53rd.

The survey is conducted by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and is released each year ahead of the World Happiness Day, marked on March 20.