THE ninth edition of the World Happiness Report came out in the last couple days, and this year, in addition to the long established metrics such as social support, freedom of choice, generosity or trust among one another, and perception of corruption, the effects of Covid-19 on the respective country was taken into account.
Assembled by the Gallup World Poll, and other institutions around the globe, "give more importance to happiness and well-being in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development."
Finland, with its robust social safety net and its effective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, earned the top spot with a rating of 7.8 out of 8. Scandinavia, as always, ranks high in these sorts of polls, with Sweden, Norway and Denmark not far behind.
No South east Asian country cracked the top 10, with Singapore ranking the highest with 6.4 out of 8. Taiwan led East Asia with 6.6.
Thailand was not far behind with 6 points, followed by the Philippines with 5.9 points, while Malaysia and Vietnam both scored 5.4 points, Indonesia had 5.3 points, and finally, Myanmar had the lowest score in the entire region with 4.4.
That would put Malaysia at 81st out of a total of 149 countries.
For comparison, Malaysia’s high point was 6.3 points in 2015.
None of that is as bad as Afghanistan’s 2.5 points, the worst in the world. Considering the collapse of the Western-backed government was too recent for the happiness report, the endemic corruption and numerous terror attacks were heavy contributors.
Because of Covid-19’s impact on people around the world, irregardless of borders, based on the annual data from the Gallup World Poll, there was a roughly 10% increase in the number of people who said they were worried or sad the previous day. More people are feeling an unease with regards to their economic situation.
Though the number of cases are still high, the government promises there is light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the pandemic. That being said, the economic factors must improve if Malaysia intends to climb the ranks of happiness. – The Vibes, September 7, 2021
