Australia conjures up thoughts in everyone's head of a country and continent where kangaroos and koalas roam freely and people are generally laid back. This hypothesis of the happiness of the Australian people is even supported by the World Database of Happiness Rank Report 2014, which ranks Australia's happiness at 7.3 out of 10, an extremely high figure. We can only wonder, then, what makes Australia one of the happiest countries in the world? Many factors can come into play when deciding what exactly makes a country's citizens happiest. In Australia's case, however, location, size and other factors contribute to an almost perfectly content country. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, in the Pacific Ocean. Although Australia is close to Indonesia and New Zealand, this continent is essentially stuck in the middle of the ocean, with no other continents nearby. This large gap between Australia and other countries may suggest that location has a lot to do with Australia's happiness rate. Countries that are extremely close to each other, such as Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Jordan, have much lower happiness rates, according to the World Happiness Database. Australia is not landlocked, which still has a lot to do with citizen happiness, since the majority of the population lives on the east and southeast coast of Australia (“Australia,” n.d.). The weather is another factor that can greatly affect the mood of people all over the world. Australia's climate varies greatly across the country, from tropical to Mediterranean and even desert climates ("Australia-Geography and Climate", n.d.). In the southeastern part, however,...... middle of paper....... Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_StatesList of United States cities by population . (nd). Retrieved October 9, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_populationPeen J., Schoevers RA, Beekman AT, Dekker J. (July 13, 2009). The current status of urban-rural differences in psychiatric disorders. Retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19624573Still healthy, wealthy and wise – but declining in productivity. (2011). Retrieved from Australian Bureau of Statistics website: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/5BD0CF73B112325CCA25792000141D51?OpendocumentTiffen, R. et Gittins, R. (2009). Comment l'Australie se compare (2e édition). Cambridge, GBR : Cambridge University Press.