Ex-GIC chief economist Yeoh Lam Keong has noted that Singapore is not even near the top 20 happiest nations even though its income per capita is higher than the top 10 winners of the World Happiness Report.
The World Happiness Report is a United Nations-sponsored landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
This year’s rankings, which were based on the 2016-2018 period, saw Singapore clinching the 34th spot. The top ten happiest nations are: Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, and Austria.
The countries that were ranked 11-20 are: Australia, Costa Rica, Israel, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, United States of America and the Czech Republic.
Asserting that the World Happiness Report is based on the “statistically sound” World Gallup Report, Mr Yeoh asked on social media: “Any coincidence that they are all thriving social democracies with good social protection and well institutionalized democratic institutions?”
Asking netizens what’s preventing Singapore from ranking higher, Mr Yeoh astutely pointed out: “Although we rank a respectable 34 out of 156 countries, Singapore is not even near the top 20, even though its income per capita is higher than the top 10.”
Read his post in full here:
Here are the top 10 winners this year of the World Happiness Report, a landmark UN sponsored survey of the state of…
Posted by Lam Keong Yeoh on Saturday, 6 April 2019