The island nation of Mauritius has the happiest citizens on the continent according to the 2020 edition of the World Happiness Report 2021. The country, however, ranked 50th on the global scale.

Overall, 149 countries were ranked in the report which focused largely on the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on lives of people across the world.

Mauritius got a little over six points out of a possible 10. Libya and Congo Brazzaville came in second and third on the continent with 5.4 and 5.3 points respectively.

Completing the top 10 Happiest African countries were: Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, Niger, Benin and The Gambia.

The happiest country in the world was Finland and at the bottom of the ranking was Afghanistan.

"Although the World Happiness Reports are based on a wide variety of data, the most important source has always been the Gallup World Poll, which is unique in the range and comparability of its global series of annual surveys," the authors said.

Some of the areas the authors looked at were: Life under COVID-19; Happiness, Trust and Deaths under COVID-19; COVID-19 Prevalence and Well-being:Lessons from East Asia and Reasons for Asia-Pacific Success in Suppressing
COVID-19.

Other areas were: Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic; Social Connection and Well-Being during COVID-19 and 7 Work and Well-being during COVID-19: Impact, Inequalities, Resilience, and the Future of Work.

Africa's happiest countries with their global ranking:

50. Mauritius

80. Libya

83. Congo (Brazzaville)

85. Ivory Coast

91. Cameroon

92. Senegal

95. Ghana

96. Niger

99. Benin

98. Gambia

The world's 10 happiest countries with their respective scores

1. Finland (7.842)

2. Denmark (7.620)

3. Switzerland (7.571)

4. Iceland (7.554)

5. Netherlands (7.464)

6. Norway (7.392)

7. Sweden (7.363)

8. Luxembourg (7.324)*

9. New Zealand (7.277)

10. Austria (7.268)