Singapore remains the happiest country in Asia

Singapore has done it again.

For the second year in a row, it is the happiest country in Asia.

This is according to the latest World Happiness Report released by the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Wednesday (March 20), which is also the International Day of Happiness. 

Globally, Singapore ranks 30th out of the 143 regions surveyed — five places down from last year's study. 

It is followed closely by its Asian counterparts — Taiwan, Japan and South Korea — which were ranked 31st, 51st and 52nd respectively. 

Other Asian countries that made the list include Philippines (No. 53), Vietnam (No. 54), Thailand (No. 58), Malaysia (No. 59) and China (No. 60). 

Topping the list are Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the past seven years. 

According to the report, the rankings are supported by data from the Gallup World Poll, which measures individuals' average life evaluations taken from 2021 to 2023. 

Other factors taken into consideration are a region's GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and perception of corruption. 

A special mention of Singapore's GDP was made by Shun Wang, one of the co-authors and editor of the 2024 World Happiness Report, during an interview with CNBC. 

"Singapore did very well in terms of GDP per capita, one of the highest ranking in our dataset." 

Wang added: "That means Singapore’s government is really clean and their people really have a very low perception of corruption ... even lower, you know, than Denmark or Norway." 

On Thursday, Singapore was also named the best place to do business among 82 countries and regions in the British Economist Intelligence Unit's business environment rankings.

This is a spot Singapore has held for the past 16 years. 

Denmark and the United States were ranked second and third place respectively.

READ ALSO: Singaporeans became less happy over the past 10 years, survey finds

claudiatan@asiaone.com