Singapore and Taiwan rank among happiest countries in Asia
Singapore and Taiwan are among the happiest countries in East Asia, according to the 2023 World Happiness Report released by the United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Released on Monday, the report was compiled based on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries and territories to measure happiness based on average life evaluations over a three-year period.
In this case, the intergovernmental organization considered seven factors from the year 2020 to 2022: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption and dystopia.
Along with the report, the U.N. celebrated its 10th anniversary of the International Day of Happiness on Monday.
“Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness,” John Helliwell, one of the authors of the report, said in a news release.
The top 10 happiest countries in the world, in order, are Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand, while the least happiest are Zambia, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
Finland claimed the title for the sixth year in a row, while war-torn Afghanistan remains the unhappiest nation since 2020.
As for Asian countries, Singapore ranked as the 25th happiest country in the world, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 26 and Taiwan at 27.
Overall, Taiwan placed first in East Asia and fourth place in Asia, which matches its ranking last year when it also took the fourth spot in Asia after Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Other ranked Asian countries include, but are not limited to, Japan at No. 47, Malaysia at 55, Thailand at 60, Mongolia at 61, China at 64, Vietnam at 65, the Philippines at 76, Nepal at 78, Hong Kong SAR at 82, Indonesia at 83, Laos at 89, Pakistan at 108, Myanmar at 117, Bangladesh at 118 and India at 126.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ranked as the 15th happiest country in the world for 2023 and Canada ranked two spots higher at 13.
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