The report, which is published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, was designed to track countries’ progress against specific measures of happiness, and also help policy makers address the needs of their citizens.

Co-editor and director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, Prof. Jeffery Sachs, said the report can help better guide policy makers because it is based, in part, on citizens' assessments of their own well-being.

"There is now a rising worldwide demand that policy be more closely aligned with what really matters to people as they themselves characterize their well-being,” he said in a statement.