Malta has been ranked 30th out of 157 in a report on the World's Happiest Countries, compiled by the United Nations.

Denmark was ranked first and Burundi last in the report, compiled by independent experts ahead of the UN's World Happiness Day on March 20th.

The survey is made on the basis of GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support (as measured by having someone to count on in times of trouble), trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business), perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity (as measured by recent donations).

Malta was 37th out of 158 countries last year.

Ahead of Malta this year are Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland Canad, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia 

Sweden, Israel, Austria, United States, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Germany, Brazil 
Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, Chile

Panama, Argentina, Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

Malta performs better than countries such as Italy and France.

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