Is Singapore really Asia’s happiest country? UN report sheds light on age divide

Out of the 143 countries surveyed, the top 5 in the report’s ranking are, in descending order, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel.

Singapore fell five spots from last year’s report to place 30th in the global rankings, but still kept its crown as the happiest among all Asian countries included in the survey.

Singapore has fared well in a number of other studies on liveability. In a separate 2023 report put together by global consulting firm Mercer, the city state was ranked the 29th best country in the world for expats out of the 241 countries surveyed, putting it above any other country in Asia. Hong Kong, by comparison, was ranked 77th.

The editor of the World Happiness Report, Wang Shun, told CNBC that Singapore had done “very well in terms of GDP per capita, one of the highest ranking in our data set”.

Shun also noted that Singaporeans have “a very low perception of corruption … even lower than Denmark or Norway.”

Divide between young and old

Singapore’s positive showing in the report led to a number of online debates among citizens of the city state, with some arguing the ranking did not accurately reflect their reality.

“Were any Singaporeans part of the survey?” one user in a Reddit forum focused on the city state asked.

“To be fair, this says more about the dismal state of a lot of countries rather than our happiness,” a second user remarked.

“We somehow gamed the rankings. No way that’s true,” another quipped.

Those comments among social media users may be indicative of a divide in the perceptions of different generations noted in the World Happiness report, which revealed a general disparity in quality of life survey scores among the young – those aged 30 and below – and elderly, those aged 60 and above.

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According to its findings, countries where the elderly are happiest also tend to be among those with the best overall rankings, but that same correlation did not exist among younger segments of the population living in those same countries.

Based on the survey data of only younger Singaporeans, the country ranked 54th, while elderly respondents ranked it significantly higher at 26th.

This could be because home and car ownership, seen as key ingredients in the Singapore Dream, are perceived to be more out of reach for young Singaporeans, sociologist Tan Ern Ser noted.

“Young Singaporeans were very much socialised to desire to live the Singapore Dream – having cash and thereby being able to cross the divide between public housing and transport to private housing and transport,” said Tan, a professor at the National University of Singapore.

“[The conditions] are now seen as less easily accessible, compared to that of their middle-class parents, who had experienced upward mobility in the late 70s and early 80s.”

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Tan also pointed out that across the board, “there are always unhappy people”.

While their reasons may be valid, they were also “most likely to be most vocal about their feelings”, he said, suggesting the noise on social media might not be indicative of the majority in Singapore.

Singaporean Andrew Lim, 26, told This Week in Asia he felt that he had “much to be thankful” in his country, especially compared with others in the region.

“Although there are many disparities between the classes here, we enjoy a country that is safe and developed. There are many opportunities for us to build ourselves and improve our lives,” he said.

Tan added, “[The factors analysed in the study] are objective and necessary conditions for happiness. However, at the level of individuals, the objective conditions are not sufficient in themselves to produce happiness.

“Happiness is a subjective feeling which depends on individual aspirations and expectations, and who and what one is compared with.”