The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network publishes the World Happiness Report every year on March 20, the International Day of Happiness.
The report uses data from the past two years’ Gallup World Poll surveys, with 149 countries surveyed for this year’s edition. The report’s rankings are based on an assessment of six factors — GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption.
According to this year’s report, the leading countries for happiness in the Asia-Pacific region are New Zealand in ninth place overall, Australia in 12th place and Taiwan in 19th place, while Japan ranks 40th, South Korea 50th and China 52nd.
With respect to long-term trends, Taiwan in 2013 ranked a relatively low 42nd, but advanced to 33rd in 2017.
In 2018, it broke into the top 30 by reaching 26th place, and it further improved to 25th in 2019 and 24th last year.
This year, it has braved the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic to advance to 19th place, while maintaining its status as the happiest country in East Asia.
In light of the picture that domestic media present of society, some Taiwanese might not think that life in the nation is particularly happy. Individual perceptions might vary, and should be respected.
Nonetheless, international surveys such as those released by the UN are objective comparisons of countries around the world, and when Taiwan receives such a high rating, one cannot help feeling a “sense of relative advantage.”
Especially those in government deserve to feel a sense of honor, but the opposition parties can also claim a share in what has been achieved under their strong supervision.
As a Taiwanese, the next time someone asks you whether you have been happy in the past few years, you can at least answer with a smile that evidence published under the auspices of the UN shows that Taiwan’s happiness ranks 19th in the world. If we do not feel happy, what about all the people who live in advanced countries that rank below us?
On the other hand, those in government should continue to step gingerly, as if treading on thin ice. They must go on striving to optimize their governance of the nation. That would be the most concrete way for them to respond to the high evaluation that the public has given them.
Tsao Yao-chun is a researcher with the Chinese Association of Public Affairs Management.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS