Several Albanian-language media outlets published an article yesterday (March 20) claiming that Albanians are the unhappiest people in Europe, ranking Albania 91st out of 147 countries.
This claim is based on the annual happiness report, published by the United Nations (UN).
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the claim made in the title and article that Albania ranks 91st in the list of countries in the happiness report is incorrect. So, in the UN report, Albania ranks 83rd.
Links to articles published by Albanian-language media:
Parts of the article published by the Albanian language media:
Albanians are among the unhappiest in Europe. In the annual Happiness Report published by the United Nations, Albania has lost one place in its ranking, ranking 91st out of 146 countries.
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has found the happiness report published by the UN, where Albania ranks 83rd out of a total of 137 countries, not 91st as claimed by Albanian-language media. (here)
Furthermore, the claim that Albania is the unhappiest country in Europe is based on the fact that North Macedonia is ranked 87th on the list and Ukraine is ranked 92nd. (here)
Countries are ranked by happiness based on their average life satisfaction ratings during 2020-2022.
Hibrid.info has also found articles where it was correctly reported regarding Albania's ranking in the list of countries according to the happiness of the population. (here, here and here)
Albanian-language media that, while reporting on the ranking of countries by happiness, ranked Albania as 91st on the list, apparently referred to the list published on the website "Worldpopulationrevieë.com", a ranking that includes data from 2020-2021 and refers to the 2021 happiness report. (here)
Analyze:
Albania ranks 83rd out of a total of 137 countries in the annual happiness report published by the United Nations, not 91st as claimed by some Albanian-language media.
Even the claim that Albania is the unhappiest country in Europe does not hold up due to the fact that North Macedonia (87) and Ukraine (92) are lower in the ranking.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses that the above claims are "unverified content".
ASSESSMENT:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.