Thailand ranked 34th in world’s happiest country

Thailand has been ranked the 34th happiest country in the world for 2012-2014, according to World Happiness Report 2015 released Thursday.

Switzerland came in top, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

Released by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Thursday, the study ranked 158 countries based on Gallup surveys from 2012 to 2015. A Gallup survey is a public opinion poll conducted in different countries.

The World Happiness Report 2015, a landmark survey of the state of global happiness, is the third annual report seeking to quantify happiness as a means of influencing government policy. The United Nations published the first study in 2012.

According to this latest report, Thailand joins Singapore (24th), Taiwan (38th), Japan (46th) and South Korea (47th) in the top 50 happiest countries in the world.

Thailand receives a score of 6.455 from 10.

Switzerland, the world’s most happiest country gets 7.587, Iceland 7.561, Denmark 7.527, Norway 7.522 and Canada 7.427.

The five countries at the bottom of the list are Rwanda (3.465), Benin (3.340), Syria (3.006), Burundi (2.906) and Togo (2.839).

Among ASEAN countries, Malaysia came the 61th place, Indonesia 74th, Vietnam 75th, Philippines 90th, Laos 99th, Myanmar 129th and Cambodia 145th.

The third report measures well-being in 158 countries around the world to help guide public policy.

The ranking is made up of factors such as gross domestic product per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption and generosity.

The first report was published in 2012, the second in 2013, and the third on April 23, 2015.

Leading experts across fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations.

The reports review the state of happiness in the world today and show how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness. They reflect a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness as a criteria for government policy.

 Thai PBS

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