Penghu tops Taiwan’s happy district survey

2014-09-19

Penghu, Hsinchu and Miaoli are the happiest counties in Taiwan in that order, according to a survey released Sept. 17 by a Taipei City-based newspaper.

Started in 2012, the Economic Daily News survey evaluates performance of 20 cities and counties against eight objective and 11 subjective indicators of well-being. Outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang counties are not included as they come under Fujian province.

Selected in accord with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Better Life Index, the indicators include disposable income, education, environment, family support, government policy, health, life expectancy, living conditions, personal safety and work-life balance.

According to the survey, Penghu topped the chart with a score of 68.7 out of 100, up five spots from last year. The outlying county has been the leader in subjective measures for three consecutive years, scoring high in environment and personal safety.

Hsinchu came second with the top score for health and boasted the most balanced development across the board. It was followed by Miaoli with the largest living space per person on Taiwan proper and improving scores for employment, family support and personal safety.

Despite its leading performance on objective measures, Taipei dropped seven places to ninth. It garnered the lowest ranking for work-life balance and a poor performance on living conditions as a result of soaring housing prices.

Of the other four metropolises, Tainan ranked 10th, Kaohsiung 12th, Taichung 14th and New Taipei 17th. With a score of only 25.8, Yunlin was the least happy county.

Worth noting was the significant overall improvement in subjective perceptions of well-being of the more than 22,000 respondents.

Among the 11 subjective indicators, living conditions, family support and health topped satisfaction levels at 84.9 percent, 82.8 percent and 82.1 percent, respectively. While government policy remained bottom at 35.8 percent, it was up 6.4 percentage points from a year ago.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=221803&CtNode=413)