Singapore slips in ranking of world's happiest countries, but retains top spot in Southeast Asia
Singapore ranks 34th on the World Happiness Report for 2025.
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PUBLISHED ONMarch 21, 2025 9:39 AMByCarol OngIt seems Singapore is still the happiest country compared to its neighbours in Southeast Asia.
This is according to the latest World Happiness Report, which was published on Thursday (March 20).
That said, the nation has dropped four places overall on the list for 2024, ranking 34th compared to the previous year's ranking of 30th.
While our sunny island has managed to retain its crown within Southeast Asia, it has been dethroned by Taiwan as Asia's happiest nation at 27th place.
Singapore's neighbouring country Malaysia ranks 64th on the list this year. They ranked 59th last year.
Among other Southeast Asian nations, Vietnam was at 46th, Thailand at 49th, Philippines at 57th, and Indonesia at 83rd.
The happiest countries and the least
So, which country is the happiest in the world?
It seems the Nordic countries continue to dominate the list.
According to the study, first place goes to Finland, which was also top of the list last year.
They are followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
All of the countries in the top five retained the same rankings as last year with the exception of the Netherlands, which replaced Israel as the fifth happiest country in the world.
On the other end, Afghanistan ranks lowest on the list at 147th, followed by Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
How are the countries ranked?
The global happiness ranking study — released in partnership with the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, Gallup (a research and analytics company) and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network — assesses the happiness and wellbeing index of more than 140 countries including Singapore.
According to World Happiness Report's website, their ranking is based on a single question from the Gallup World Poll utilising the Cantril Ladder methodology — which urges respondents to picture a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom (worst life possible) to 10 at the top (best life possible) — and decide where they stood at the moment.
Additionally, they also assess data from a pool of more than 100,000 respondents over a three-year period across several factors including: inequality, social support, GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
Singapore currently ranks number one on the list for the lowest perception of corruption.
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