The report, published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, ranks the world's nations according to poll results and six objective factors: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption.

Lithuania ranks 60th in the 2016 index, down four positions from 2015, but still ahead of its Baltic neighbours.

Lithuania is ahead of Latvia (68th position), Estonia (72) and neighbouring Belarus (61) but behind Russia (56) and Poland (57).

Denmark leads the pack with Switzerland (last year’s winner), Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden rounding out the top 10. The US ranks 13th, Germany 16th, and the UK 23rd, to name a few big players.

The world's most miserable nations live in Burundi, Syria, Togo, Afghanistan and Benin.

The first World Happiness Report was published in April 2012. Increasingly, happiness is considered to be the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy, according to the report's authors.