Taiwan moves up in 2016 World Happiness Report
2016/03/30
Taiwan climbed three places to 35th in the latest World Happiness Report released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network in the lead up to March 20 World Happiness Day.
The country ranks ahead of Malaysia, 47th; Japan, 53rd; South Korea, 58th; Hong Kong, 75th; and Indonesia, 79th to finish fifth in the Asia-Pacific. The top five comprises New Zealand, eighth; Australia, ninth; Singapore, 22nd; and Thailand, 33rd.
Denmark is the happiest country and territory in the world, followed by Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Finland.
First launched in 2012, the survey was conducted in conjunction with Columbia University’s The Earth Institute. Using Gallup World Poll data, the report assesses the progress of 156 countries and territories spanning generosity, gross domestic product per capita, freedom to make life choices, healthy life expectancy, perceptions of corruption and social support.
Taiwan gained 6.379 points across these indicators, showing relatively advanced level of human welfare compared with the global baseline of 2.33.
A new factor introduced in the 2016 edition of the report is a greater emphasis on measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions. This approach confirms that people are happier living in societies marked by less inequality.
The results are in line with the ROC government’s efforts in recent years to reduce inequality across all sectors of society. Ministry of Finance statistics reveal that disparity in disposable household income dropped from 7.53 to 6.08 times in 2013 after the implementation of wide-ranging finance and taxation reforms.
Separately, Taiwan’s headway in promoting gender equality has won international praise. Switzerland-based Inter-Parliamentary Union lauded the country for its Asia-high 38 percent representation of female legislators in the 113-member ROC Legislative Yuan.
Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=243424&ctNode=2194&mp=9)
