UN report says Singapore is happiest country in Asia

SINGAPORE: The 2023 World Happiness Report released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which was released on Monday (Mar 20) shows that Singapore is the happiest country in Asia.

The report is based on data from over 150 countries and territories measuring happiness based on life evaluations across a three-year period, with these specific factors: social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption, and dystopia.

But though it’s the highest-ranked in Asia, Singapore did not break into the top 10, or even 20, happiest countries around the world. These are Finland, which has taken pole position for the sixth time, Denmark, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the US, Germany, Belgium, Czechia, the UK, and Lithuania, in order.

Singapore is ranked 25th, sandwiched between Romania and the United Arab Emirates.

However, while the report is supposed to be based on a three-year average from 2019 to 2022, only data from 2020 and 2021 is used for Singapore, as there is no data for 2022.

The 10 least happiest countries, according to the report, are Zambia, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

“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,” said Mr John Helliwell, who is one of the authors of the report.

The study asked respondents to assess their lives at present as a whole, on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the best score.

Respondents in Finland, the happiest country, had an average rating of 7.804, while in Singapore it is at 6.587.

In the lowest-ranked country, Afghanistan, the average happiness rate is 1.859.

/TISG

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