Economic woes drive Botswana deeper down world’s unhappiest list
Lewanika Timothy - Mbongeni Mguni | Monday March 24, 2025 14:35
The World Happiness Report, based on the Gallup World Poll, was released on Thursday afternoon and indicates that Finland is again the world’s happiest country, the eighth time in a row that the Nordic country has topped the list.
Botswana, meanwhile, continues to slide down the list and this time was ranked below war-stricken countries such as the DRC and Ukraine or those plagued by poverty such as Somalia.
According to the list, the only countries unhappier than Batswana in the world are Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
This year, the country ranked 142nd out of 147 countries included in the report, down from 137 out of 143 countries in 2024 and 132 out of 143 countries in 2023. The 2025 report contains data collected between 2022 and 2024.
With a target of up to 1,000 respondents in each country, the World Happiness Report researchers ask survey participants to think of a ladder and rate which rung they are on in terms of their lives. The best possible life is a 10 and the worst possible is a zero.
The Report is therefore both self-assessed and perception-based and for years, Batswana have ranked as amongst the lowest of the low.
A deep dive into Botswana’s stats in the Report show that the country’s unhappiness is largely driven by worries around the performance of the economy.
Besides the recession last year, the response by Batswana on the economy is also confirmed by the country’s unemployment crisis in which Statistics Botswana recently estimated that from a total of around one million Batswana who are eligible and actively seeking employment, almost a quarter could not find jobs.
According to figures from Statistics Botswana’s Quarterly Multi-Topic Survey, unemployment has been on upward motion, quarter on quarter in recent years.
The Happiness Report also found that Batswana’s responses were influenced by the lack of impactful social support which worsens negative emotions gauged by the researchers in their research questions. The social support indicator checks the strength of social cords that bind the nation into a helpful society.
Batswana were least worried about health life expectancy, attesting to the strength of the free health care policy that the country provides.
On other indicators, Botswana performed surprisingly poorly in a category known as “benevolence” where researchers attempted to gauge the national average frequencies of people who report donating, volunteering and helping a stranger once or more in a month.
Out of 143 countries, Botswana was ranked 141 for donating, 113 for volunteering and 15 for helping a stranger. Batswana also ranked themselves 102 out of 143 countries in terms of believing their lost wallets would be returned by a stranger. The local respondents however had more trust in police returning their lost wallets, ranking themselves 42 out of 143 countries.
The latest results fly in the face of efforts by authorities in the country to lift the Happiness Report rankings. One of the targets of the National Transformation Strategy seeks to see Botswana move from the bottom, to the top 20 of the World Happiness Report.
“By prioritising these aspects, Botswana aims to create a safe, secure and peaceful nation, which is a crucial outcome for the country’s overall well-being and progress,” reads the Strategy.
It is presently unclear whether the National Transformation Strategy is still being pursued by the new government. The Strategy was being championed by the National Planning Commission.