Topline Report: World Happiness Report



-880110-74231500Introduction World Happiness Report 2016 by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), was released on Wednesday, 16th March 2016 in Rome in advance of UN World Happiness Day March 20th, marking its fourth publication since its inception in the year 2012. The widespread interest in the World Happiness Reports reflects growing global interest in using happiness and subjective well-being as primary indicators of the quality of human development. Because of this growing interest, many governments, communities and organizations are using happiness data, and the results of subjective well-being research, to enable policies that support better lives.This year, the World Happiness Report gives a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions. In previous reports the editors have argued that happiness provides a better indicator of human welfare than do income, poverty, education, health and good government measured separately. In a parallel way, they now argue that the inequality of well-being provides a broader measure of inequality. They find that people are happier living in societies where there is less inequality of happiness. They also find that happiness inequality has increased significantly (comparing 2012-2015 to 2005-2011) in most countries, in almost all global regions, and for the population of the world as a whole.The report, produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), is once again edited by Professor John F. Helliwell of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Professor Richard Layard, director of the Well-Being Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance; and Professor Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and SDSN. Denmark topped the list of the happiest nation, and was followed by Switzerland (2nd), Iceland (3rd), Norway (4th), Finland (5th), Canada (6th), Netherlands (7th), New Zealand (8th), Australia (9th) and the Sweden (10th). It was also noted that all top 7 countries were in the global north. The US was ranked 13th, two spots higher than last year while Germany ranks (16th) and the UK (23rd). MethodologyThe World Happiness Report 2016 reveals trends in the data judging just how happy countries really are, from a scale running from 0 to 10, people in over 150 countries, surveyed by Gallup World Poll over the period 2012-2015. In this latest report, researchers analysed a step deeper into the data looking at country trends since the first report, regional indicators, factors in gender and age, and the importance of investing in social capital. The happiness report scores were attributable to six key variables: Real GDP per capita;Healthy life expectancy;Having someone to count on (Social support);Perceived freedom to make life choices;Freedom from corruption; and Generosity.The Gallup World Poll (GWP), which still provides the most comparable data for a large group of countries, typically interviews 2,000 to 3,000 respondents per country in each survey year, and then combines data from the years 2012 -2015 to make the sample size large enough to reduce the random sampling errors. The rankings are based on answers to the main life evaluation question asked in the poll. This is called the Cantril ladder. It asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. In short, the researchers straight-up asked people to rank their own happiness. These answers are then weighted based on?six key variables: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption. Then, the results are compared to Dystopia, an imaginary place the team created where everyone is miserable. This fictional, sad realm allows all of the countries to remain positive in the six factors listed above. In other words, Dystopia is a benchmark that every country passes to make a better graph. Some question the credibility of the report. The one thing this index has been going against it, is its rather small sample size, which only surveys 2,000 to 3,000 people per country and when this is consider against the population size, that’s not great. However, the team explains, a sample size of 2,000 to 3,000 is large enough to give a fairly good estimate at the national level. This is confirmed by the 95 percent confidence intervals shown at the right-hand end of each country bar.The unhappiest countries are Afghanistan at 154th followed by Togo (155th) and Syria (156th) and Burundi comes in last at 157th.The report helps countries gauge how ready they are to start pursuing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which include ending poverty and hunger, increasing healthcare and the quality of education, reaching gender equality and many other great, humanitarian goals that would benefit the world. The team also believes that the index is helpful because it looks at more than just economic factors such as:Being mindful?and?allowing ourselves to feel “captured” by emotions like awe?or joy, Access to necessary material resources, Stimulating work and decent work conditions, Personal freedoms, Good governance, and Strong social ties and the opportunity?to spend time with family and friends. Malaysia’s Performance in the World Happiness Report 2016Of the 157 countries that participated in the World Happiness Report 2016, Malaysia advanced 14 places to be at 47th position with a score of 6.005 compared to the 61st position (score: 5.770) it held the previous year in 2015. Malaysia at its 47th position is well placed way above Japan (43rd), South Korea (58th), Hong Kong (75th), Indonesia (79th), Philippines (82nd), China (83rd) and Vietnam (96th). The top 30 countries from its first publication World Happiness Report 2012 till the current World Happiness Report 2016 are shown in Table 1, and the overall ranking for the 157 countries is shown in Appendix 1. Table 1: Ranking of Happiness 2013-15World Happiness Report 2012World Happiness Report 2013World Happiness Report 2015World Happiness Report 2016CountriesRankCountriesRankCountriesRankCountriesRankDenmark1Denmark1Switzerland 1Denmark1Finland2Norway2Iceland2Switzerland 2Norway3Switzerland3Denmark 3Iceland3Netherlands4Netherlands4Norway4Norway4Canada5Sweden5Canada5Finland5Switzerland6Canada6Finland6Canada6Sweden7Finland 7Netherlands7Netherlands7New Zealand8Austria 8Sweden8New Zealand8Australia9Iceland 9New Zealand9Australia9Ireland10Australia 10Australia10Sweden10United States11Israel 11Israel11Israel11Costa Rica12Costa Rica12Costa Rica12Austria12Austria13New Zealand 13Austria13United States13Israel14UAE 14Mexico14Costa Rica14Belgium15Panama 15United States15Puerto Rico15Luxembourg 16Mexico 16Brazil16Germany16UAE17USA 17Luxembourg17Brazil17UK18Ireland 18Ireland18Belgium18Venezuela 19Luxembourg 19Belgium19Ireland19Iceland20Venezuela 20UAE20Luxembourg20Panama21Belgium 21UK21Mexico21Spain22UK 22Oman22Singapore22France23Oman 23Venezuela23UK23Mexico24Brazil 24Singapore24Chile24Brazil25France 25Panama25Panama25Saudi Arabia26Germany 26Germany26Argentina26Puerto Rico27Qatar 27Chile27Czech Republic 27Italy28Chile 28Qatar28UAE 28Kuwait29Argentina 29France29Uruguay 29Germany30Singapore 30Argentina30Malta30Malaysia51Malaysia56Malaysia61Malaysia47Malaysia is ranked 3rd ahead of Indonesia(4th), Philippines (5th), Vietnam (6th), Laos (7th), Myanmar (8th) and Cambodia (9th) in the ASEAN region (Table 2), and among the Asia Pacific countries Malaysia is ranked 5th after New Zealand(1st), Singapore(2nd), Thailand (3rd) and Taiwan (4th) (Table 3).Table 2: Malaysia among ASEAN RegionCountries RankScoreSingapore16.739Thailand26.474Malaysia36.005Indonesia45.314Philippines55.279Vietnam65.061Laos74.876Myanmar 84.395Cambodia93.907Table 3: Malaysia among Asia Pacific RegionCountriesRankScoreNew Zealand17.334Singapore26.739Thailand36.474Taiwan46.379Malaysia 56.005Japan65.921South Korea75.835Indonesia85.314Philippines95.291China105.245Pakistan115.132Vietnam125.061Bangladesh134.643India144.404ConclusionThe concepts of happiness and well-being are very likely to help guide progress towards sustainable development. In the case of Malaysia, among the six key variables assessed, corruption seems to be the most worrying factor among the people. The social support factor also contributed to the ranking advancement, where incentives like BR1M were raised in support of the current inflation crisis that is happening in Malaysia where rising cost of living has been a worrying trend for the people. There were also budget revisions that were made to benefit the rakyat, e.g. price reduction in fuel costs are much lower compared with Thailand and Indonesia.Food costs alone account for 33 per cent of the average spending of each Malaysian household. As such, the government focus is on the bottom 40 per cent of households, whose gross income averaged just RM2,537 per month in 2014. The government, however, aims to double that to RM5,270 in 2020. 1Malaysia Clinic was a blessing and a facility that could be appreciated. With this service, thousands of patients, especially among the urban population do not have to worry about time constraints and financial problems to receive basic medical care.Many say the prices of fish in Malaysia are now probably at record levels, the highest in living memory, but it is arguable that consumers don’t mind a situation where fish is expensive if our poor fishermen get a deserving share of the price. This indeed explains the generosity of our fellow Malaysians. “At the end of the day, it’s all driven by economics, i.e. supply/demand, production cost and efficiency, seasonal factors, distribution and competition and people are not restricted from having legitimate incomes as business policies are in place and the liberty to make choices in choosing the kind of life one needs is available. 3526902-8805545Appendix 14000020000Appendix 1-565785-11303000 -462915-4127500-226060000 ................
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