Thai citizens unhappier than last year: latest World Happiness Report

Graphic: Teirra Kamolvattanavith/ Coconuts Media. Info: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Graphic: Teirra Kamolvattanavith/ Coconuts Media. Info: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Thai citizens are less happy, on average, than they were last year according to the latest edition of the World Happiness report that shows the kingdom six rankings below what it was in 2018.

In this year’s survey by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which was just released on the International Day of Happiness yesterday (don’t worry, we didn’t know about it either), ranked Thailand the 52nd happiest out of 156 countries.

While this is quite low, Thailand actually ranked the second happiest country in Southeast Asia, behind Singapore at number 34 and followed by the Philippines at 69.

However, Thailand is also ranked the second most corrupt country in Southeast Asia, scoring just six points below Malaysia.  

Screenshot: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Screenshot: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Since the first World Happiness Report that was released in April 2012, Thailand appears to have gotten happier until 2017, when the country’s score started dropping.

Though we can’t definitively conclude that the changes correlate to the ruling junta, the study does mention that “what governments do affects happiness… and in turn the happiness of citizens in most countries determines what kind of government they support.”

Sounds like we’re building up to an interesting election this weekend.

Thailand’s yearly rankings and scores:

Graphic: Teirra Kamolvattanavith/ Coconuts Media. Info: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

It appears a report was not released in 2014.

The study is based on factors like GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, income, and absence of corruption.

Based on those variables, Nordic countries appear to be among the world’s happiest with Finland, once again, topping the list, followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and Austria making it to the top 10.

“It’s true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries’ residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world,” the report’s co-editor and professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia John Helliwell told CNN. He pointed out that Finland’s citizens trust their government and pay high taxes for a social safety net, on top of being generous with each other.

“That’s the kind of place people want to live.”

On the other end of the charts, South Sudan is found to be the unhappiest country in the world, with the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Yemen trailing behind.



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