Africa's 'happiest' countries revealed

What makes a country happy? Is it wealth, freedom or a trustworthy government?

According to the latest World Happiness Report, compiled by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations, all these factors are key, and measuring happiness is fast becoming a good measure of social progress.

Six key factors were measured to establish a global ranking of the happiest countries; GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

Only five African countries rank among the top 100, and eight of the last ten overall are in Sub-Saharan Africa, having ranked very low on some of the key factors that lead to happiness.

Here are the first ten African countries as they appear on the global list.

1 Algeria

2 Mauritius

3 Libya

4 Somalia

5 Tunisia

6 Nigeria

7 Zambia

8 Namibia

9 Ethiopia

10 South Africa