Africa's happiest country named in new report - full list of top 10

Mauritius is the happiest country in Africa (Image: Getty)

A beautiful island nation has been named the happiest country in Africa.

The World Happiness Report has revealed the rankings of contentment by country, with Mauritius topping the list in Africa and coming in 78th place worldwide.

African countries placed between Mauritius and Sierra Leone, which placed 146th, second-to-last behind Afghanistan. For context, the UK came in 23rd. 

Mauritius is an island country in the Indian Ocean, just over 1,000 miles off the southeastern coast of East Africa, next to Madagascar. It has a population of 1.3 million people.

The country came in 43rd place in both 2017 and 2019, steadily falling over 20 places since to its current position. It is 62nd for social support, 49th for GDP per capita (£21,565), 71st for freedom, 70th for generosity, and 46th for perceptions of corruption.

Mauritius came 78th internationally for happiness (Image: Getty)

Top 10 African countries by their happiness level - and their overall place in the World Happiness Report:

1. Mauritius - 78

2. Libya - 79

3. Algeria - 84

4. South Africa - 95

5. Mozambique - 96

6. Gabon - 97

7. Côte d'Ivoire - 98

8. Congo - 100

9. Guinea - 102

10. Namibia - 103

Of the 54 countries in Africa, only 41 got a ranking, with 13 UN-recognised countries not having entries in the World Happiness Report, including Sudan, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic, and Eritrea.

The UK as a whole has fallen 23rd in the rankings. Ahead of Britain came nations including Costa Rica (6th), Mexico (10th), New Zealand (12th), and Slovenia (19th).

The top five spots in the report are unsurprisingly taken by Scandinavian countries: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. This group consistently dominates rankings of this nature.