One big surprise this year: Israel came in at No. 5, despite the war with Hamas. But according to the authors of the report, the rankings are based on a three-year average, which can skew the numbers. Israel has ranked in the top 10 on the happiness report since 2022. “In the case of cataclysmic events happening during a particular year, their effect on the rankings will depend on when the survey took place, and will be muted by the three-year averaging,” wrote the authors of the report. “In the case of the October 7th attack on Israel and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas, the survey in Palestine took place earlier in the year and the Israel survey after the hostage taking but before much of the subsequent warfare.”