Thailand is the world’s 34th happiest nation according to the World Happiness Report 2015, a survey that looks at the well-being and happiness of a nation’s economic and social development.
“The aspiration of society is the flourishing of its members,” said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University.
“This report gives evidence on how to achieve societal well-being. It is not by money alone, but also by fairness, honesty, trust, and good health. The evidence here will be useful to all countries as they pursue the new Sustainable Development Goals.”
The report by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and contains analysis from leading experts in the fields of economics, neuroscience, and national statistics. It also describes how measurements of subjective well-being can be used effectively to assess national progress.
The report identifies the countries with the highest levels of happiness, Switzerland was the country with the highest levels of happiness, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.
Regionally Singapore was in 24th place, with Malaysia (61st), Hong Kong (72nd), Indonesia (74th), Vietnam (75th) and Myanmar (129th) of the 158 surveyed countries. The least happy country was Togo.
As in previous reports, The World Happiness Report 2015 reveals trends in the data judging just how happy countries really are. On a scale running from 0 to 10, people in over 150 countries, surveyed by Gallup over the period 2012-15, reveal an average score of 5.1 (out of 10). Six key variables explain three-quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity. This year for the first time ever, the report breaks down the data by gender, age, and region. It finds striking differences, some much larger than have previously been found.
Source: http://worldhappiness.report/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/WHR15.pdf
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
