Philippines is 2nd happiest country in Southeast Asia

by Alexandria Dennise San Juan, Manila Bulletin

The Philippines is now the second happiest country in Southeast Asia, according to the 2022 World Happiness Report (WHR), Malacañang announced.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the Philippines earned the second spot among Southeast Asian countries in the latest WHR released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

“Ang Pilipinas po sa ngayon ang pangalawan pinaka-masayang bansa o happiest country sa Southeast Asia. Ito ay ayon sa 2022 World Happiness Report ng Sustainable Development Solutions Network (The Philippines is now the second happiest country in Southeast Asia. This is based on the 2022 World Happiness Report of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network),” Andanar said.

In the 10th edition of the WHR published last week, the country also ranked 60th out of 146 countries across the world with a score of 5.904. This is a notch higher than the 61st spot in 2021.

Finland remains the happiest country in the world for the fifth straight year with a score of 7.821 this 2022. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is at the bottom of the rankings with a score of 2.404.

In the Southeast Asian region, Singapore topped the list with a score of 6.480 and ranked 27th worldwide. Other Southeast Asian countries included in the rankings are Thailand (61st), Malaysia (70th), Vietnam (77th), Indonesia (87th), Laos (95th) Cambodia (114th), and Myanmar (126th).

Based on the WHR website, the report measures happiness “based on life evaluations as the more stable measure of the quality of people’s lives.” The happiness of each country can also be explained through different factors such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, personal freedom, and perceptions of corruption.

“Overall levels of life evaluations have been fairly stable during two years of Covid-19, matched by modest changes in the global rankings,” the report read.

“Among the six variables used to explain these levels, there has been general growth in real GDP per capita and healthy life expectancy, generally declining perceptions of corruption and freedom, declining generosity (until 2020), and fairly constant overall levels of social support,” it added.

The 2022 WHR also showed that positive emotions have generally been twice as prevalent as negative ones—a gap that has been narrowing over the past ten years.

“The COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 has led to a 2021 pandemic of benevolence with equally global spread. All must hope that the pandemic of benevolence will live far beyond COVID-19. If sustainable, this outpouring of kindness provides grounds for hope and optimism in a world needing more of both,” it added.