Taiwan ranked 55th out of 135 countries in a survey of how happy people feel about their lives, ahead of other major Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.
Eighteen percent of respondents in Taiwan considered themselves to be thriving in at least three of the five elements of well-being, as measured by the inaugural Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index last year.
That put Taiwan in front of Japan’s 15 percent (ranked 64th), South Korea’s 14 percent (75th), and China’s 12 percent (90th).
Among the index’s five core elements for measuring well-being — purpose, social, financial, community and physical — Taiwanese respondents expressed the highest level of well-being in the financial category, with 45 percent saying they were thriving financially.
According to Gallup, “financial” refers to respondents’ ability to manage their economic life to reduce stress and increase security.
“Purpose” represents whether people like what they do each day and are motivated to achieve their goals, while the “social” element gauges whether a person has supportive relationships and love in life.
The “community” element is an indication of respondents’ satisfaction with where they live, and a sense of feeling safe and having pride in their community. The “physical” element asked if they are in good health and have enough energy to get things done daily.
Among Taiwanese respondents, 19 percent said they were thriving in purpose, 25 percent were thriving in the social and community elements, and 16 percent were thriving in the physical category.
The category in which the highest percentage of Taiwanese considered themselves to be “suffering” was in the purpose category, at 32 percent.
Among other Asia-Pacific countries, 30 percent of New Zealanders, 28 percent of Australians, 24 percent of Filipinos and 22 percent of Thais said they were thriving in three or more elements. Vietnam was tied with Taiwan at 18 percent.
Worldwide, one in six adults considered themselves to be thriving. Residents of the Americas were the most likely to be thriving in three or more elements, while those in sub-Saharan Africa were the least likely.
The top three countries in the well-being index were Panama, Costa Rica and Denmark, the survey showed.
According to the research company, responses were collected from 133,000 respondents aged 15 and older through telephone and face-to-face interviews last year. The margin of error was less than 1 percentage point.
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