Looks like us Malaysians have a reason to smile!
According to this year’s World Happiness Report, Malaysia has been rated the 3rd happiest country in Southeast Asia and the 4th happiest nation in Asia. This report also revealed that Malaysia is the 42nd most happy country out of 155 nations.
Source: World Happiness Report 2017
Compared to last year, Malaysia jumped up 5 places. Other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand (32 from 33), Taiwan (33 from 42), Vietnam (94 from 96) and the Philippines (72 from 82) managed to climb up this list as well.
This year’s report also revealed Norway as the world’s happiest country, finally taking Denmark off the top spot after three years.
The study measured happiness, or subjective well-being, using three dimensions;
- The individual’s evaluation of their own life
- Emotional states (either positive or negative)
- A sense of purpose in life
Source: Spiked
The report also explored a lot more factors this year, such as a real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, generosity, life expectancy, social support, perceived freedom to make life choices, and freedom from corruption.
One of the reasons Norway emerged as the happiest country in the world despite declining oil prices was a remarkable phenomenon, according to one of the co-editors of the report, Josh Helliwell.
Helliwell stated that Norway probably turned out to be the happiest nation because they chose to produce their own oil and to invest in the proceeds for future generations. He told CNN,
“This emphasis on the future over the present is made easier by high levels of mutual trust, shared purpose, generosity and good governance.”
Meanwhile the government in Malaysia…
Jeffrey Sachs, another co-editor of this year’s report, stated,
“As demonstrated by many countries, this report gives evidence that happiness is a result of creating strong social foundations. It’s time to build social trust and healthy lives, not guns or walls. Let’s hold our leaders to this fact.”
Well, we could all learn something from this report and start learning to trust each other. The world would be a much happier place this way.
Also read: Study Shows Money Can Indeed Buy You Happiness
