Vietnam stands behind neighbor China (86th) and other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand (46th) and Philippines (71st).
Vietnam ranks 95th, one rank lower than last year.
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The ranking was based on six key variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.
The UN placing is the latest accolade of Finland, a country of 5.5 million people that only 150 years ago suffered Europe's last naturally caused famine. The country has been ranked the most stable, the safest, and best-governed country in the world. It is also among the least corrupt and the most socially progressive. Its police are the world's most trusted and its banks the soundest.
Venezuela recorded the biggest fall in happiness, outstripping even Syria, although in absolute terms it remains a mid-ranking country. The report notes that Latin American countries generally scored higher than their GDP per capita suggests, especially in contrast to fast-growing East Asian countries.
The UN report devotes a special chapter to why the US, once a long-time ranker on the top of the happiness table, has been slipping down despite having one of the highest incomes per capita.
"America's subjective wellbeing is being systematically undermined by three interrelated epidemic diseases, notably obesity, substance abuse (especially opioid addiction), and depression," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in New York, one of the report's authors.
"That Finland is the top scorer is remarkable," said Meik Wiking of the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark. "GDP per capita in Finland is lower than its neighbouring Nordic countries and is much lower than in the US. The Finns are good at converting wealth into wellbeing."
"In the Nordic countries in general, we pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but there is wide public support for that because people see them as investments in quality of life for all. "
Free healthcare and university education goes a long way when it comes to happiness in the Nordic countries," added Wiking.
