SA is ranked 101 in the annual World Happiness Report, released on Monday. This makes SA the 54th unhappiest country of the 155 included in the UN-sponsored ranking. Norway was rated the happiest country in the world and the Central African Republic the most miserable. Northern Europe dominated the top of the list and Africa the bottom. Of African countries, SA was rated 7th happiest. The happiest African country was Algeria, followed by Mauritius and Libya. "It is telling that in 1994 the government of SA, the last country on the continent to gain its independence, promised a ‘better life’ to meet its newly enfranchised black citizens’ aspirations for housing, running water, and electricity," the report said. "Some 20 years later, there is still a marked difference between what determines happiness among black and white South Africans. Economists report that better access to infrastructure and public goods increases happiness among black South Africans, while determinants of the ha...

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