Recently, a study was conducted: in which country the happiest people live. According to polls, northern Europe turned out to be happier than southern Europe, and residents of the former USSR feel unhappy more often than others.

The World Value Survey Foundation conducted a study whose purpose was to identify countries where the happiest people live on Earth. To do this, a survey is conducted of people who answer two questions: "Do you think that, in general, you are very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, or not at all happy?" and "How satisfied are you overall with your life today?"

According to the results, it turned out that the happiest people in the world live in Denmark. Moreover, every year there are more and more Danes who are satisfied with their lives. The "formula of happiness" for the Danes is simple: low taxes and a high level of technical development. In addition, most of the citizens of "the happiest country in the world" are well educated.

But if you look below, it becomes clear that the Danish formula is not a recipe for happiness for everyone. Because in second place among the happiest countries is Puerto Rico. But if everything is more or less clear with Puerto Rico - this island belongs to the United States, then Colombia is in third place. How this country, in which there is a civil war, in which a high level of crime, in which the majority of the population is poor as a church mouse, got into the top three of the happiest is a mystery. It remains only to sin on the coca growing in these parts - there is no other explanation for Colombian happiness.

In fact, there are many such amazing moments in the list of the happiest countries that do not correspond to the established stereotypes about this world. So, El Salvador, located between Austria and Malta, opens the second ten. The United States comes only in 16th place: there people are not much happier than the inhabitants of Guatemala. And the people of Venezuela, led by the resilient Hugo Chavez, are happier than the people of Finland.

Azerbaijan is the last country with a positive happiness index. Opens the list of unfortunate countries - Macedonia. Of course, it is disturbing to live in a country when another country wants to rename your country.

Russia in this list got 88th place out of 97 possible. We are less happy than the people of Rwanda, Pakistan and Ethiopia. By the way, last year Esquire magazine provided a list of new English words, where the word "Russian" among the British is actually an analogue of the word "depressive". By the way, according to Russian polls, the citizens of our country simply glow with happiness. According to the VTsIOM poll, which featured the question of happiness, 77% of our fellow citizens consider themselves happy. Although there were some surprises here too: residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg feel the worst, only 74% of them consider themselves happy people. Well, the most happy in our country are the inhabitants of the south, where 84% answered the question about happiness in the affirmative.

Researchers from the World Value Survey claim that every year the level of happiness around the world is only growing, but they are not able to explain this phenomenon. It is interesting that, on average, after 40 years, men feel happier than women, although before this age, the leaders of happiness are just the weaker sex. It is also known that the older a person becomes, the more often he considers himself happy. Can we conclude from this that it is men who become wiser with age?

№	Country	Happiness Index
1	Denmark	4,24
2	Puerto Rico	4,21
3	Colombia	4,18
4	Iceland	4,15
5	Northern Ireland	4,13
6	Ireland	4,12
7	Switzerland	3,96
8	Holland	3,77
9	Canada	3,76
10	Austria	3,68
11	Salvador	3,67
12	Malta	3,61
13	Luxembourg	3,61
14	Sweden	3,58
15	New Zealand	3,57
16	USA	3,55
17	Guatemala	3,53
18	Mexico	3,52
19	Norway	3,5
20	Belgium	3,4
21	Great Britain	3,39
22	Australia	3,26
23	Venezuela	3,25
24	Trinidad	3,25
25	Finland	3,24
26	Saudi Arabia	3,17
27	Thailand	3,02
28	Cyprus	2,96
29	Nigeria	2,82
30	Brazil	2,81
31	Singapore	2,72
32	Argentina	2,69
33	Andorra	2,64
34	Malaysia	2,61
35	West Germany	2,6
36	Vietnam	2,52
37	France	2,5
38	Philippines	2,47
39	Uruguay	2,43
40	Indonesia	2,37
41	Chile	2,34
42	Dominican Republic	2,29
43	Japan	2,24
44	Spain	2,16
45	Israel	2,08
46	Italy	2,06
47	Portugal	2,01
48	Taiwan	1,83
49	East Germany	1,78
50	Slovenia	1,77
51	Ghana	1,73
52	Poland	1,66
53	Czech	1,66
54	China	1,64
55	Mali	1,62
56	Kyrgyzstan	1,59
57	Jordan	1,46
58	Greece	1,45
59	South Africa	1,39
60	Turkey	1,27
61	Peru	1,24
62	South Korea	1,23
63	Hong Kong	1,16
64	Iran	1,12
65	Bangladesh	1
66	Bosnia	0,94
67	Croatia	0,87
68	Morocco	0,87
69	India	0,85
70	Uganda	0,69
71	Zambia	0,68
72	Algeria	0,6
73	Burkina Faso	0,6
74	Egypt	0,52
75	Slovakia	0,41
76	Hungary	0,36
77	Montenegro	0,19
78	Tanzania	0,13
79	Azerbaijan	0,13
80	Macedonia	-0.06
81	Rwanda	-0.15
82	Pakistan	-0.30
83	Ethiopia	-0.30
84	Estonia	-0.36
85	Lithuania	-0.70
86	Latvia	-0.75
87	Romania	-0.88
88	Russia	-1.01
89	Georgia	-1.01
90	Bulgaria	-1.09
91	Iraq	-1.36
92	Albania	-1.44
93	Ukraine	-1.69
94	Belarus	-1.74
95	Moldova	-1.74
96	Armenia	-1.80
97	Zimbabwe	-1.92

Based on materials from Turist_ru.

What do Denmark, Costa Rica and Singapore have in common? Citizens of these countries live, as they say, like in Christ's bosom, believe in the highest meaning of life and enjoy every day - a minimum of stress and a maximum of joy.

Who is the happiest person in the world?
Maybe Alejandro Zuniga? A middle-aged man in good health, a loving father, he enjoys socializing and knows he has a few true friends to rely on. He rarely sleeps less than seven hours a night, walks to work, and eats six servings of fruits and vegetables nearly every day. He works no more than 40 hours a week, loves his job and gets along with his colleagues. He devotes a few more hours a week to volunteering, and on weekends he goes to church and football. In a word, day after day he chooses happiness, which is greatly facilitated by the presence of like-minded people, and also by the green expanses and temperate climate of the Central Valley of Costa Rica.

Another possible candidate is Sidse Clemmensen. Together with a devoted life partner and three young children, she lives in a friendly commune - a housing association where families work together on housework and look after children. Sidse is a sociologist, and with such a profession, she has little time for rest. The whole family rides bikes - to work, to school, to the store - a great way to stay in shape. From her modest salary, Clemmensen pays high taxes, but she is provided with medical care, education for her children and, in the future, a pension. In her native Aalborg in Denmark, people are confident that the government will not leave them in trouble.

And finally, the third contender for the title of the happiest person: Douglas Fu. A successful businessman, he drives a $750,000 BMW and lives in a $10 million home. Douglas has a wife and four children who delight their parents with excellent grades. As a schoolboy, he earned his own education and started his own firm, which eventually grew into a $59 million international company.

Mr. Fu earned the respect of subordinates, colleagues and all the surrounding residents. Success was worth a lot of effort, and, Douglas is sure, he would hardly have been able to arrange such a life for himself anywhere outside of Singapore.

Zuniga, Clemmensen and Fu represent three different types of happiness. I will call them pleasure, purposefulness, satisfaction with what has been achieved. In addition, each of our heroes lives in a country where this or that “local” happiness flourishes on fertile soil.

After talking with all three applicants, getting in touch with their native culture, we will try to reveal the secret: why are people in these corners of the planet the happiest? Look at Zuniga - like many Costa Ricans, he lives day after day to the fullest, and the very atmosphere around reduces stress and multiplies joy. Scientists call this type of happiness experienced happiness, or positive affect. It is measured very simply: respondents are asked how many times in the last 24 hours they smiled, laughed or felt joy. Zunigi's homeland is the happiest country not only in Latin America. Judging by the polls, Zunigi's compatriots experience more positive emotions in everyday life than anyone else on the planet.
Clemmensen had a kind of happiness, characteristic of purposeful Danes. As with other forms of happiness, the default assumption is that basic needs are met, so that people can do what they love at work and at leisure. This is eudaimonic happiness - this term comes from the ancient Greek word meaning "happiness, bliss." The concept itself gained popularity thanks to Aristotle, who believed that only a life filled with meaning, a matter worth laboring, gives true happiness. When conducting research, Gallup invites respondents to remember what they learned or did interestingly yesterday. In Denmark, which for 40 years has consistently ranked at the top of the rankings of the happiest countries in Europe, people simply have an easy life. As for Mr. Fu, with all his energy and many talents, he confirms the reputation of Singaporeans, known for their fanatical craving for success. Their happiness is "satisfaction with life." To determine its level, sociologists often ask respondents to rate their lives on a scale from zero to ten. This type of happiness is also called evaluative. All over the world, it is considered a measure of well-being. In terms of life satisfaction, Singapore is a clear leader among Asian countries.

Researchers at Columbia University, commissioned by the United Nations to publish the annual World Happiness Report, found that three-quarters of a person's happiness is determined by six factors: stable economic growth, healthy life expectancy, quality of social relationships, generosity, trust and freedom. choose your own path. All these factors directly depend on the government of the country and its cultural values. In general, we can say that the happiest corners of the planet nurture the happiness of their inhabitants. Zuniga, Clemmensen and Fu are determined to achieve their goals - but not at the expense of joy and laughter - and are proud of what they are doing now and what they have already achieved. In many situations, they are helped by their native land - the country and the city, the street and the house. The ground under your feet and the people around you give support, constantly encouraging them to do things that attract happiness.

COSTA RICA

JOY EVERY DAY: HEALTH, FAITH, FAMILY

MATTHEW PALEY In the middle of a busy day, Maria del Carmen Chorsrecha Patterson (right) decided to take a break: from the restaurant she runs in Limone, she went to a nearby bar to dance to upbeat music. Costa Ricans always find time for small pleasures, family and friends.

Let's return to Alejandro Zuniga, a fruit and vegetable vendor at the central market in the city of Cartago, east of San José, the capital of Costa Rica. This 57-year-old big man has been working here for many years. Whenever one of the sixty other merchants falls ill or gets into trouble, it is Zuniga who collects the money. On weekends, he takes out for a football game to cheer on his favorite team in the city, C.S. Cartaginés (the team, alas, there are not enough stars from the sky, but this is not the main thing). Zuniga is a charismatic person and a born leader.

One evening his phone rang. “You won the lottery,” came the voice of a friend over the phone.

Zuniga, the caller said, got a lucky ticket: he was due 50 million colones (at that time about 93 thousand dollars). But Alejandro did not believe his friend, a well-known lover of practical jokes: he had a difficult day behind him, and besides, the avocados did not sell. “I thought it was a stupid joke,” he recalls. “I have eight dollars left in my pocket.”

In his heart he hung up.

The next day, when Zuniga came to work, he was met with a flurry of applause. The news of the win spread throughout the county.

Feeling dizzy, Zuniga moved along the stalls, shaking hands with each vendor. Everyone knew: life did not indulge him. He grew up in the slums, dropped out of school at the age of 12 to earn his own bread, he had problems with alcohol, and at 20 the love of his life broke his heart: his beloved left him.

And now Zuniga suddenly became a millionaire, and his comrades mentally said goodbye to him, deciding that he would certainly exchange them for a new, prosperous life. But week after week passed, and our hero slowly distributed the wealth that had fallen on him. A million columns to a friend from whom I bought that lucky ticket. A million to the owner of the diner, who fed him in times of famine. Another million to a beggar I know in the market, and the rest to my mother and four mothers of their seven children. Less than a year later, he was already broke again. And he doesn't care about grief. "I am absolutely happy!" says Alejandro.

MATTHEW PALEY Only three students go to school in La Central, a farming village an hour from Cartago. In the photo: the trinity has lunch in a cafe in the company of a teacher. The crucifix was moved here from the church during the eruption of the Turrialba volcano: it was considered that it would be safer here. Primary and secondary education is compulsory and free, and the country's literacy rate reaches 97.8%.

To understand its resilient nature, you need to know Costa Rica well, where, thanks to geography and social policy, a “cocktail of happiness” has turned out. Its components: a strong family, universal health care, faith in God, a peaceful sky above your head, equality and generosity. These ingredients make up the recipe: how to enjoy life day after day. This is the key to the first form of happiness - enjoyment. Here in Costa Rica, this well-being love potion brings more happiness per dollar of GDP than anywhere else in the world.

Let's try to understand Alejandro. He has neither a car, nor gold-diamonds, nor expensive equipment - but he does not need all this for happiness and self-respect. He lives in a country where the last 100 years have been marked by the support of every citizen. In most Central American states, after gaining independence, large landowners reigned, whose interests were guarded by presidents supported by the army, but Costa Rica took a different path.

MATTHEW PALEY Paramedic Ileana Alvarez-Chávez visited 68-year-old single widow Mayela Orozco as part of the Costa Rica government health program to take an elderly woman's blood pressure and take tests. In a year, Alvarez-Chavez will visit every house in Paraiso. The emphasis on preventive medicine has helped reduce child mortality and increase life expectancy.

The impregnable mountain ranges pitted with gorges did not contribute to the growth of plantations. But the international demand for coffee played into the hands of small owners and free-spirited farmers of the Central Valley. Costa Ricans elected teachers unencumbered by colonial vestiges as presidents - their policies launched a spiral of prosperity. In 1869, a law was passed in Costa Rica that made primary education compulsory for all children—remarkably, for girls as well. By 1930, the literacy rate was one of the highest in Latin America. At the same time, the authorities ensured clean water in the villages, declaring war on deadly childhood diseases, as well as cholera and diarrhea. By 1961, laws for nationwide health care had been passed, and free first-aid posts appeared in most villages. Costa Rica remains on course today. One winter morning, I volunteered to join paramedic Ileana Alvarez-Chavez as she went on a round of patients through the verdant city of Paraiso in the Central Valley. Ileana is a member of the Basic Comprehensive Health Services Team (EBAIS): This national system was created in the mid-1990s to keep Costa Ricans healthy. Small teams - a doctor, a nurse, a receptionist and several paramedics - are entrusted with the health care of about three and a half thousand people. Alvarez-Chavez's daily detour rate is at least a dozen houses. She spends half an hour in each, because she needs to make an entry in the medical record, measure pressure, get vaccinated, give recommendations and make sure that the water has not stagnated anywhere (mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus breed in stagnant water). Having visited the 89-year-old Aurora Brenes, Ileana compiled an inventory of all her medications, measured her blood pressure and wrote the old woman to the doctor of her team. “Often I have time to catch the disease before it has developed into diabetes or a heart attack,” says Alvarez-Chavez. “Many of my patients are lonely people, and they are already grateful that someone is paying attention to them.”

Since 1970, life expectancy in Costa Rica has jumped from 66 to 80, and infant mortality has dropped sevenfold. Compared to the United States, the death rate from heart disease among men is about a third lower, although health care costs per capita are ten times less. As former President José María Figueres Olsen argued, Costa Rica's health care system works so well because health care is its top priority. “In the United States, there are incentives focused on increasing spending,” Figueres emphasized at the time. “And here, for many years, the emphasis has been on preventive medicine, because, frankly, the goal of a competent health policy is the same – to prevent people from getting sick.”

In short, the social system of Costa Rica satisfies the basic needs of citizens. Mariano Rojas, a native of these places, an economist and expert in the wisdom of happiness, at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Mexico City, says this: people can earn their daily bread.”

DENMARK

WHEN BASIC NEEDS ARE MET, IT IS EASIER TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE

CORY RICHARDS On a farm north of Copenhagen, schoolchildren pick vegetables they have grown themselves. All that is left is to cook and eat together - all this is provided for by the program that teaches children to love and protect nature. The Danes love such joint events.

Denmark also cares about the welfare of its citizens, and Sidse Clemmensen is just one of them. Sitting in her kitchen, this 35-year-old working mom, a short-haired young woman in a sleeveless blouse and Moroccan slippers, sips her tea with a sparkling diamond in her nose.
“The state provides me with everything I need,” says Clemmensen. - The children are happy. I have a wonderful husband. And my favorite job. I know that nothing really terrible will happen to me.”

The Clemmensen family settled in Aalborg in a housing association - bofællesskab in Danish. Each of the 22 families owns a house, and on the common area there is a huge garden, laundry, workshop, warehouse, parking and a dining room where you can share a meal with everyone.

The housing association is a sophisticated mix of private and public in a true Scandinavian spirit, a good metaphor for the entire Danish society, where trust and partnership play an important role. According to the sociologist from the University of Copenhagen Peter Gundelach, the evolution of Danish society is rooted in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864, when a quarter of the country's territory went to Prussia. “That defeat extinguished in us the desire to be a world superpower,” he says. - It calmed us down. The government began to strengthen our national identity - to build pillars from the inside.

CORY RICHARDS A Cuban immigrant, infected by the Danes with a passion for socializing, dances with his half-Danish daughter on the lawn near the beach in Copenhagen, a favorite meeting place for the townspeople. The Danes have always warmly welcomed visitors, however, the recent migration crisis has somewhat cooled their enthusiasm.

Since childhood, Danes have been aware of their right to health care, education and financial protection. If a child appears in a family (including same-sex marriage), parents have the right to go on maternity leave for a whole year and receive state benefits in the amount of almost their full salary. In Denmark, people work hard, but on average less than 40 hours a week, and go on vacation five weeks a year. The price of such generous social benefits is one of the highest income tax rates in the world. This universal equalizer allows the garbage collector to actually earn more than the doctor.

“The happiness of the Danes is closely related to their concept of tryghed - a sense of security, as if you were curled up in bed and the blanket was tucked in from all sides. It starts with a mother's love and ends with a relationship with the government, says Jonathan Schwartz, an American anthropologist who lives and works in Copenhagen. “The system doesn’t so much guarantee happiness as it keeps people from doing things that will make them unhappy.” Another important component of happiness in Danish is the ability to find time for self-realization. Over 90 percent of Danes are members of some kind of club or society with interests ranging from swimming in cold water to raising rabbits, and more than 40 percent volunteer to join community organizations. “The Danes seem to understand the totality of human needs like no one else,” says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist at Claremont Graduate University in California. “People need to be tested. That's the way we are. Overcoming difficulties, we become more confident. This is what happiness is built on.”

SINGAPORE

THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO SUCCESS

MATTHEW PALEY To mark the end of training, soldiers stage a night march to the world's largest floating stage. Military service creates a sense of purpose and unity, holding strong bonds among the main ethnic groups of the country. The army is a symbol of security, which is so highly valued by the people of Singapore.

Singapore has found its own path to happiness. A prime example is Douglas Fu. Mr Fu runs Singapore's largest chain of fast-food sushi restaurants, Sakae Sushi, and manages to find time to volunteer at 22 organizations. On a 14-hour day, he dresses in one of his custom-made blue suits and presides over a dozen meetings. His signature style is a combination of refined ceremony, attentive focus, determination and humor. His ability to defuse the situation with an unexpected outburst of laughter, multiplied by his indefatigable capacity for work, earned him at least all the outward attributes of "Singapore-style success." He will tell you that he is happy, but deep down he feels that he has not yet conquered one of the peaks. At 48, Fu walks through life in the ranks of generations - between those who fought desperately for life in the 1960s and stood at the cradle of independent Singapore and the current 20-year-olds. In over half a century, a country located on a piece of land 49 kilometers long has turned from a fishing village into a state where 5.8 million citizens live among thousands of skyscrapers and over a hundred and a half shopping centers - a metropolis lined with green streets. Success for Singaporeans lies at the end of a well-known path - follow the rules, go to a good school, get a good job, and you're done! In an equal opportunity society, talent and hard work are always rewarded.

CORY RICHARDS Three family members are immersed in prayer over an urn with the ashes of a deceased relative. They participate in a dramatic online ceremony accompanied by a laser show in a luxurious columbarium. For many Singaporeans, wealth - and showcasing it - is an important part of the happiness formula.

Singaporeans may complain that prices are rising and they are spinning around at work, but almost everyone talks about feeling secure and trusting each other. The creator of this social experiment was the late Lee Kuan Yew, who in 1965 led the movement for the independence of Singapore. Feeling deep reverence for traditional Asian values, Lee set out to build a society based on harmony, respect and work. Everyone who took up work, even in the most modest field, could count on a decent salary. Under the labor welfare program, low wages were offset by subsidies for housing and medical care. Although the bulk of the population is made up of Chinese (74.3%), Malays (13.4%) and Indians (9.1%), the Lee government has retained English as an intermediary language so that none of the nations can pull the blanket over myself. It guaranteed freedom of religion, equal education for all, and provided subsidies for the purchase of real estate. As a result, today Singaporeans represent the third kind of happiness - the one that experts call life satisfaction. The indicator jumps up if you live in accordance with your own values ​​and are proud of your achievements. You have achieved financial stability and high status and feel that you are in the right place. Alas, the path to such happiness can stretch for many years, and often you have to pay for it with those small, momentary joys for which our life is so generous.

In dry scientific terms, happiness is a state of inner satisfaction that most closely matches a person's ideas of well-being. But how can science look into our souls in order to describe it with any accuracy? Hardly! Yes, and sometimes we ourselves cannot answer the question why we are so happy or so unhappy. With all the apparent well-being, a person can be extremely unhappy. Surely you have met a person who, it would seem, lives in love and prosperity, but does not consider himself happy. Or maybe you yourself are such a person?

Perhaps there is nothing more difficult to describe than happiness. Ask the same question "Why is a person happy?" a hundred people and you are guaranteed to get a hundred different answers. Why is this happening? It's simple, because happiness is a deeply subjective state. It arises in response to the satisfaction of a need. You needed a prestigious job and finally got the desired position - you are happy. You have been separated from your loved one for a long time, and now you are finally holding his hand - and you are happy again. Happiness is a state that is characterized as positive. It would seem that the logic is simple - the more often and more fully the needs of a person are satisfied, the happier he will be. But is it?

For example , The Dalai Lama, reflecting on happiness, said that it can be achieved in two ways - external and internal. The external path involves the accumulation of material things - finding a home, things pleasant to the heart, beautiful clothes. The inner path is the path of spiritual development. And both of these paths must sooner or later intersect, because external happiness without internal will be fleeting. A person deprived of spirituality becomes a slave to things and loses the ability to perceive the versatility of the world. Therefore, only a harmonious combination of the spiritual with the material can give a person a feeling of happiness. , two principles have always fought in a person - the physical and the spiritual. And a strong bias in one direction or another in the satisfaction of needs has always inevitably led a person to internal conflicts. A person needs to take care of the body as a receptacle for the soul, and the soul as a subtle matter that gives meaning to the physical existence of the body. A person who manages to maintain this delicate balance can be called happy.

Not so long ago, large-scale studies were carried out to identify the country where the happiest and most unhappy people live. The study assessed 4 main criteria: 1) average life expectancy; 2) social security of the population; 3) material well-being; 4) how satisfied the person as a whole is with the quality of his life. The study was conducted in 147 countries of the world. The happiest in all respects were the inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Finland and Norway. Absolutely happy people there turned out to be about 82%, and suffering - no more than 1.5%. Russia is in the middle of the list, taking 73rd place. The percentage of happy people in Russia was approximately the same as in Lebanon, Romania and Slovakia - 22%, and people who feel deeply unhappy - 57%. The most unhappy population turned out to be the population of the Republic of Haiti, where 74% of the population consider themselves deeply unhappy, and less than 2% are absolutely happy.

Man has always striven to be happy, no matter what this happiness for him is. But happiness is so subjective and changeable that it can hardly become a permanent state in a person's life. The world is changing, under the influence of circumstances we ourselves are changing, and our idea of ​​happiness is changing with us. Sometimes, in pursuit of it, we do not look deep into ourselves, but at those around us. For some reason, it seems to us that somewhere there live people who are much happier than us. The desire to look at others and constantly compare ourselves with them often prevents us from noticing the everyday, simple joys that fill life with meaning. After all, it is the pleasant little things, of which our whole life is woven, that can make a person happy. And happy people live, first of all, in ourselves.

Specialists of the research company Medialogy analyzed more than 1 million messages on social networks Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, OK, Instagram, LiveJournal, forums and blogs to find out in which region of Russia the happiest people live.

Mention frequency: 25,09%

Moscow has become the happiest city in Russia, where people most often mention the word "happiness".

In addition, Moscow was among the regions with the largest decrease in crime rates in the region.

That is, over the past six months, the criminogenic situation in the city has improved significantly.

2. St. Petersburg

Mention frequency: 11,72%

St. Petersburg is quite far behind Moscow in terms of the number of mentions of the word "happiness", however, the city was in 2nd place in the ranking of the happiest regions in Russia.

Like Moscow, it also became one of the most restless cities in Russia in a recent ranking of the Petersburg Politics Foundation.

St. Petersburg also recently entered the top ten regions with the highest life expectancy.

And the mayor of the city was among the best mayors of Russian cities.

Mention frequency: 4,09%

Crimea is a traditional place of rest and recreation. Sea, sun, fresh air - this is what makes Crimea a desirable place for summer holidays.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that this region is among the happiest in Russia.

In addition, this year Crimea has become one of the most popular tourist destinations among Russians.

4. Udmurtia

Mention frequency: 3,65%

Udmurtia was in 4th place among the happiest regions of Russia, only slightly behind Crimea.

Despite this, this year Udmurtia was included in the list of the most conflict regions of Russia, being in 6th place in this rating.

5. Primorsky Krai

Mention frequency: 2,93%

Primorsky Krai closes the top five among the happiest regions of Russia.

6. Tatarstan

Mention frequency: 2,8%

The Republic of Tatarstan is part of the Volga Federal District and is part of the Volga Economic Region.

The population of the republic, according to Rosstat, is 3,885,253 people in 2017.

In addition to being among the happiest regions in Russia, Tatarstan also ranks 9th among Russian regions in terms of life expectancy.

And the mayor of Kazan entered the top 10 best mayors of Russian cities.

7. Novosibirsk region

Mention frequency: 2,47%

The Novosibirsk region took the 7th place among the happiest regions of Russia.

Despite this, the city of Novosibirsk this year was among the most restless cities in Russia in terms of the number of rallies and protests that took place in the city and region.

8. Sverdlovsk region

Mention frequency: 1,94%

The Sverdlovsk region took the 8th place among the happiest regions of Russia.

Despite this, Yekaterinburg this year also entered the list of the most restless cities in Russia, as a number of high-profile rallies and protests took place in the city itself, and in the region as well.

9. Krasnodar Territory

Mention frequency: 1,59%

The Krasnodar Territory became the 9th region with the most frequent use of the word "happiness".

In April, according to a study by Medialogy, Kuban also entered the top ten happiest regions of the Russian Federation.

Last year, Krasnodar took 5th place in the ranking of the happiest cities in Russia, according to the study "Index of Happiness of Russian Cities", which was conducted by the monitoring agency NewsEffector together with the Regional Research Foundation "Regions of Russia".

This year, Krasnodar entered the list of the most restless cities compiled by the Petersburg Politics Foundation.

10. Moscow region

Mention frequency: 1,57%

The Moscow region closes the top ten happiest regions in Russia.

This is not surprising, as the region's distinguishing feature is its close connection with Moscow, which ranked #1 in the happiness ranking.

Despite this, the Moscow region this year was among the most conflict regions of Russia.

11. Rostov region

Mention frequency: 1,55%

The population of the region, according to Rosstat, is 4,231,355 people in 2017.

The Rostov region took the 11th place among the happiest regions of Russia.

12. Bashkortostan

Mention frequency: 1,46%

The Republic of Bashkortostan was ranked 12th among the happiest regions of Russia. In a recent ranking of the best mayors of cities in our country, the mayor of Ufa took 3rd place.

13. Amur Region

Mention frequency: 1,44%

The Amur Region was ranked 13th among the happiest regions in Russia.

The population of the region, according to Rosstat, is 801,752 people in 2017.

14. Krasnoyarsk Territory

Mention frequency: 1,43%

The Krasnoyarsk Territory also became one of the happiest regions in Russia: it took 14th place in the ranking.

The population of the region, according to Rosstat, is 2,875,301 people in 2017.

15. Saratov region

Mention frequency: 1,36%

The population of the region, according to the State Statistics Committee of Russia, is 2,479,260 people in 2017.