Taiwan ranked 27th globally in this year’s World Happiness Report released today, coming first in East Asia, surpassing Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China.
The report, which was topped by Finland, was released by the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre and done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
All countries in the report are ranked according to self-assessed life evaluations averaged from 2022 to last year.
Photo: Taipei Times
Country rankings were based on answers provided by people from more than 140 countries asked to rate their own lives on a zero to 10 scale, with 10 representing their best possible life.
Taiwan ranked 27th globally with a score of 6.669, up from 31st in last year’s report.
This made it the third-happiest place in Asia, following Israel at No. 8 with a score of 7.234 and the United Arab Emirates at No. 21 with a score of 6.759.
Researchers in the report said that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support and household size.
Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.
As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.
In Taiwan, 56.6 percent helped a stranger, while 41.2 percent donated, ranking 86th and 34th respectively.
Only 15.2 percent volunteered, ranking 106th globally in this aspect.
In general, Taiwan was globally ranked 33rd and 34th in terms of social support and generosity respectively.
Overall, researchers said global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are about twice as high as people expect.
Nordic nations ranked among the top for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.
Finland was named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.
When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness — the US dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012.
The report states that the number of people dining alone in the US has increased by 53 percent over the past two decades.
Afghanistan again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult.
In a concerning development, the study said 19 percent of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they had no one they could count on for social support.
That is a 39 percent increase compared to 2006.
Experts in economics, psychology and sociology sought to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
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