We’ve always thought that Indonesia, despite its faults, was one of the happiest countries in the world (our people have said they were pretty happy in past polls). But, according to a new UN-sanctioned study on happiness, Indonesians may not be so gleeful after all.
The study, titled the ‘World Happiness Report’, ranks Indonesia 79th out of 157 nations. If you think that that’s a respectable mid-table finish, think again – Indonesia was ranked lower than war-torn countries like Libya (67), Somalia (76), and Kosovo (77).
We’re also supposedly gloomier than our Southeast Asian neighbors, with Singapore (22), Thailand (33), and Malaysia (47) all ranked above us. Only the Philippines (82) placed lower.
The data on the report shows that Indonesia scored particularly badly on the ‘freedom to make life choices’ category for its people, which is probably an accurate reflection about economic immobility, not to mention the current climate of intolerance towards marginalized groups in the country lately.
World Happiness Report 2016 is the fourth edition of an annual rank of countries’ happiness based on factors such as people’s health and access to medical care, family relations, and job security and social factors. The data for this edition of the report was taken between 2013-2015.
According to the report, Denmark is the happiest country in the world (like we said before, Scandinavians often rank high in these kinds of studies), while Burundi is the least happy.
You can read the full report here.
