Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

Israel was tied for eighth among the happiest countries in the world, according to a new survey.

In a Gallup World Poll of 155 nations, the Jewish state tied with Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

Forbes, which posted the list July 29, said the richest countries were by and large the happiest. Scandinavian countries dominated — Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands took the top five spots. Costa Rica was sixth.

The United States ranked 14th, three spots ahead of Britain, in a survey that asked thousands of respondents to give a “life evaluation” score from 1 to 10. The survey, taken between 2005 and 2009, catalogued their daily feelings to decide what percentage of people in each country were “thriving, struggling or suffering.”

African nations fared poorly, with Sierra Leone, Comoros, Burundi and Togo ranking in the bottom five. They were joined by Cambodia as the unhappiest countries on earth. — jta