New survey released Thursday shows Israelis still report high life satisfaction during the war years, even as worry, anger and distrust rise sharply.

Israel ranked eighth worldwide in the World Happiness Report 2026 released Thursday, maintaining its position from last year despite nearly three years of war and national upheaval since the October 7 attacks. The ranking, based on a three-year average of life-evaluation surveys conducted by Gallup, gave Israel a score of 7.187.

Finland again topped the global ranking with a score of 7.764, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. Luxembourg and Switzerland rounded out the top ten. The report evaluated 147 countries, with Afghanistan ranking last, preceded by Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

One of the most striking findings relates to young Israelis. Those under 25 rank third globally among their peers, trailing only Serbia and Costa Rica. By comparison, young Americans ranked 60th and Canadians 71st. Other Israeli age groups also scored highly, placing around 11th globally on average.

At the same time, the report paints a more complicated picture of the country’s emotional climate. Indicators measuring worry, sadness and anger surged dramatically, with Israel jumping from 119th place before the war to 39th today. Public trust indicators also deteriorated: Israel ranked 107th in perceived corruption and 88th in freedom of choice, reflecting growing public frustration.

“The result of Israel in this year’s happiness report does not cancel out the psychological and social cost of the war, but rather highlights the gap between Israeli resilience and the difficult emotional reality of everyday life,” said Anat Fanti, a happiness policy researcher at Bar-Ilan University. “The rise in indicators of worry and anger and the erosion of public trust make clear that resilience does not mean immunity.”