Does a Canadian passport make you happier? Here's what a new ranking says

Canada has a passport that can open doors to much of the world, but does having that kind of freedom mean Canadians are living happier lives?

A new ranking looks at 50 countries with some of the most powerful passports to see how they measure up when it comes to happiness, freedom, and quality of life. Global Citizen Solutions recently published its report, Happy Passports: An index of wellbeing, freedom, and mobility.

It looks at how passport strength relates to people’s freedom to make choices about their lives, including where they can live, work, and travel. It doesn’t suggest that having a powerful passport makes someone happier; instead, it looks at the opportunities and freedom people have to leave if circumstances at home change.

The report compares 50 countries across four categories: wellbeing, freedom at home, mobility, as well as prosperity, health and safety. The countries were chosen “for geographic diversity across six regions and for their relevance to international mobility, including leading wellbeing performers, major destinations for internationally mobile individuals and the largest countries they come from.”

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Finland claimed the top spot with a near-perfect overall score of 93.2 out of 100, followed by Iceland (92.4) and Denmark (92.1).

So, where does Canada rank?

It didn’t quite make the top 10, landing in 15th place with an overall score of 79.3. Its wellbeing score was 67.2, considerably lower than Finland’s perfect wellbeing score of 100. However, Canada performed better in the three other categories, scoring 83.3 for freedom at home, 92.4 for mobility, and 74.4 for prosperity, health, and safety (American tourists also seem to agree, recently ranking Canada as the 15th safest country to visit).

For comparison, the U.S. ranked 28th with an overall score of 70.7.

But a powerful passport doesn’t always translate into a happier population. Some of the happiest countries hold passports ranked in the bottom half of the index.

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“The happiest countries also hold strong passports, but beyond a certain level of income a good life depends above all on freedom, and freedom at home and the freedom to move do not always go together,” concludes the report.

So, does having a powerful Canadian passport make you happier? Not necessarily.

Being able to travel, work, and live abroad is definitely a great advantage, but it’s not the full picture. How people feel about their lives, the freedom they have at home, and their overall quality of life are just as important.

Here’s the full ranking and overall scores:

1. Finland: 93.2
2. Iceland: 92.4
3. Denmark: 92.1
4. Norway: 89.3
5. Switzerland: 88.3
6. Sweden: 88.2
7. Netherlands: 86.2
8. New Zealand: 84.4
9. Austria: 83.8
10. Singapore: 82.8
11. Germany: 82.3
12. Australia: 82.2
13. Costa Rica: 80.9
14. Malta: 79.6
15. Canada: 79.3
16. Spain: 79
17. United Kingdom: 77.8
18. Italy: 76.6
19. France: 76.1
20. Japan: 76
21. Portugal: 75.3
22. Uruguay: 75
23. United Arab Emirates: 73.4
24. Chile: 72.8
25. Cyprus: 71.3
26. South Korea: 71.3
27. Malaysia: 71.1
28. United States: 70.7
29. Israel: 70.4
30. Argentina: 70.3
31. Panama: 70.1
32. Brazil: 68.9
33. Mexico: 65.4
34. Paraguay: 63.5
35. Hong Kong: 63.4
36. Greece: 62.9
37. Mauritius: 62.6
38. Peru: 60.3
39. Colombia: 56.7
40. Georgia: 54.1
41. Saudi Arabia: 49.7
42. Dominican Republic: 48.8
43. Thailand: 48.1
44. Ecuador: 44.6
45. Vietnam: 43.1
46. Indonesia: 40.8
47. South Africa: 34.5
48. Turkey: 30.4
49. Morocco: 29.7
50. Kenya: 22.4

Check out the full report.

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