People in Norway are the happiest in the world. That finding comes from a report which came out this week. It shows Norwegians are happier than people int over 150 countries. The 2017 Word Happiness Report shows the six happiest countries are all in the northern Europe. Norway, was the fourth-happiness country last year, while Denmark was number one. The report said the least happy country was the Central African Republic, one of the poorest areas in the world. Syria was the 152nd on the list. The Syrian civil war began over five years ago, and fighting continues. The United States came in the 14th place, which is one step lower than last year. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University said there were a number of reasons why Americans are not as happy as before. Sanchs said the country is becoming meaner. He also thinks the government is becoming more selfish, and there is less equality( 平等 ) among U.S. people than in the past. A group of social scientist started the survey. Their findings were based on a simple question. They asked people to imagine a ladder( 梯子 ) with 10 steps . The top of the ladder was “the best life”, and bottom was “the worst”. Then, the people were asked: “On which side do you spend on at this time?. Social scientists found that six main reasons were responsible for one’s happiness. The six were: how rich the country is, how many years old people can live to, how honest the government is, how friendly people can make life choices, how dangerous( 大方 ) people are, how strong the social relationship is.