Singapore ranked 2nd happiest economy in 2025, with Taiwan taking top spot

SINGAPORE: On the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index for 2025, which measures the health of the 178 economies, Singapore took the number two spot, just behind Taiwan.

The index is published each year by Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, who is also known as the “money doctor” for his expertise in using economic data from the Economist Intelligence Unit, International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook, and other sources, to take the “temperature” of economies to see how “miserable” or “healthy” each one is.

Prof Hanke’s index is based on the sum of an economy’s unemployment rate at the end of the year (multiplied by two), plus inflation and bank-lending rates. From this figure, the annual percentage change in real GDP per capita is deducted.

Taiwan, which clinched first place for the second year in a row, scored 2.1159, with unemployment as the major contributing factor for its score. Singapore followed with a score of 2.5939, and the lending rate was listed as the city-state’s major contributing factor.

Another Asian economy, Thailand, came in third (3.1417), followed by Ireland (5.3470) and Côte d’Ivoire (6.2886).

Taiwan continues to flourish, and its real GDP growth per capita of 9.2% is what is behind its health. This is driven by the high demand for Taiwan’s semiconductors and artificial intelligence hardware. Meanwhile, it has low unemployment and inflation at 3.3% and 1.3% respectively, with a bank-lending rate at 3.3%.

As for the runner-up, “Singapore is a perennial contender at the happiest end of the HAMI, and 2025 is no exception. With a score of 2.6, Singapore’s performance reflects near-full employment at 2.0% unemployment, well-anchored inflation at 1.2%, and solid GDP growth of 4.3% per capita,” Prof Hanke wrote.

World’s most miserable

At the bottom three, the most miserable economies are Turkey (100.9610), Sudan (225.3674), and Venezuela (556.4916).

Prof Hanke noted that Venezuela’s score is among the highest ever recorded on the index, and is largely due to “an accelerating collapse” brought about by the 2024 elections, which saw Nicolás Maduro’s return to power, sanctions that cut off oil revenues, and the free fall of its currencies. 

Prices in Venezuela rose by a staggering 475.3% in 2025, while unemployment increased to 35.1%.

However, with the forced removal of Mr Maduro on Jan 3, it remains to be seen how Venezuela’s fortunes will change. /TISG

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