Singapore has once again claimed the title of the happiest country in Asia, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report. This achievement is backed by a variety of factors that have contributed to the city-state’s overall happiness ranking. While Singapore ranked 30th out of 143 places surveyed, it has topped the list in Asia for the second consecutive year.
The World Happiness Report considered a range of metrics to determine the happiness rankings of different countries. Factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity, and perception of corruption were all taken into account. Singapore performed exceptionally well in terms of GDP per capita and perception of corruption. The city-state’s government was recognized for being clean with a very low perception of corruption, even lower than countries like Denmark and Norway. Additionally, Singapore excelled in terms of healthy life expectancy, indicating that its citizens enjoy long and healthy lives.
Despite its remarkable performance in certain areas, Singapore faced challenges in terms of perceived social support, freedom to make life choices, and generosity. The city-state was noted to be “punching below its weight” in these areas, according to experts. While objective indicators suggest that Singapore should rank higher in the World Happiness Report, there is room for improvement in terms of social support, freedom, and generosity.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University, called on the Singaporean government and its people to leverage the city-state’s successes to improve the overall quality of life. Despite the objective strengths of Singapore, there are opportunities to enhance the subjective well-being of its residents. De Neve urged Singapore to find ways to enhance social support, freedom, and generosity to further boost its happiness ranking.
Singapore’s status as the happiest country in Asia is a testament to its achievements in areas such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, and low perception of corruption. However, there are areas where Singapore can strive for improvement, including social support, freedom, and generosity. By addressing these challenges and building on its existing strengths, Singapore has the potential to climb even higher in the World Happiness Report rankings and offer its residents an even greater sense of well-being and fulfillment.
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