There is something puzzling about Israeli happiness.

The World Happiness Report 2026 ranks Israel 8th in the world, with an average life evaluation of more than 7 out of 10, close to the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. The result is all the more remarkable because the ranking covers the years 2023 to 2025, a period largely marked by October 7, 2023, and the war that followed.

How can this be explained?

The World Happiness Report does not measure good cheer. It asks people to assess the quality of their lives as a whole.

A person can be worried, grieving, or deeply dissatisfied with his government and nevertheless feel that his life is worth living.

The “happiness” measured here is therefore less about pleasure than about existential satisfaction, whose main determinants are well known: the importance of family, high fertility, sociability, networks of mutual support, a sense of belonging, and the ability to mobilize collectively.

Israeli surveys confirm the strength of this sense of belonging. In 2025, despite low levels of trust in many institutions and deep political divisions, more than 70% of both Jewish and Arab respondents said they would rather remain in Israel than move to a Western country under favorable conditions. A majority also continued to regard Israel as a good place to live.

Israelis can be dissatisfied with Israel and deeply attached to life in Israel. They can criticize their leaders, demonstrate against their government, denounce the cost of living, and worry about the future while still giving their own lives a high rating.

But what gives Israelis the feeling that their lives are worth living?

Alongside the sociological explanations, there is a much older cultural dimension: the place of שִׂמְחָה — simḥa, joy, in........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)