Mauritius second happiest country in Africa

Mauritius island has been ranked second in Africa in the World Happiness Report compiled by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.

The report, released on March 20, showed that Algeria had the happiest population in Africa, while Denmark had the happiest population globally.

The 2016 edition of the World Happiness Report is the fourth attempt to quantify the population's happiness, to create more healthy and effective societies. The first edition was published by the UN in 2012.

In the 2016 edition, only six African countries were ranked among the top 100.

Six key factors were measured to establish a global ranking of the happiest countries: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

According to the report, in Mauritius, in comparison to other countries on the list, the perception of corruption was much lower, but GDP per capita was still the biggest reason for the high ranking.