Georgia ranks third globally in long-term living standards progress
Society
The University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, in partnership with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and international research organisation Gallup, has released the World Happiness Report 2026.
The report includes a historical analysis of improvements in living standards across 147 countries and territories over a 20-year period. To assess long-term progress, researchers compared baseline data from global surveys conducted between 2006 and 2010 with the most recent findings from 2023-2025.
Based on this historical progress, Georgia emerged as one of the top-performing countries worldwide, ranking third globally. According to the report, “all top five countries are located in Central and Eastern Europe: Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
In the overall annual happiness index, Georgia scored 5.64 points on a 10-point scale - marking a new historical high for the country.
The report also highlights Georgia’s strong performance in two key indicators: freedom to make life choices and perceptions of corruption.
In terms of freedom of choice, Georgia ranks ahead of 19 European Union and NATO member states, including Austria, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Similarly, in perceived freedom from corruption, Georgia outperforms 20 EU and NATO countries, among them the United States, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.
The findings underline Georgia’s significant progress over the past two decades, positioning it as a leading example of improvement in well-being and governance indicators globally.
