Letter to editor
ON Sunday (March 10), several prominent local dailies and news portals reported that Malaysia is the fifth happiest country in the world with a score of 85% or a 2.9% increase from 2022.
Non-profit neuroscience research organisation Sapien Labs claimed to have conducted its studies in 71 countries by having polled 419,175 individuals from 71 countries in an anonymous online survey.
This obviously excited many Malaysians while others scratched their heads.
On the contrary, the World Happiness Report produced by the United Nations (UN) assesses global happiness levels using data primarily gathered from the Gallup among 146 countries was subsequently released.
This comprehensive survey relies on respondents’ evaluations of their own lives to gauge national happiness. The Gallup World Poll questionnaire comprehensively measures 14 key areas of global significance which includes:
- Business & economic
- Citizen engagement
- Communications & technology
- Diversity (social issues)
- Education & families
- Emotions (well-being)
- Environment & energy
- Food & shelter
- Government and politics
- Law & order (safety)
- Health
- Religion & ethics
- Transportation
- Work
According to Global Happiness Ranking, the following are the 10 happiest countries in the world for 2024 (in brackets is the score):
What the outcome of the UN-sanctioned World Happiness Report shows is that there is a combination of factors for the overall well-being and that contentment and happiness vary based on unique cultural, social and economic context.
Among factors contributing to high level of happiness are social support, quality of life, work life balance, income and economic stability, good governance, cultural value, connection with nature, and health and well-being.
Malaysia is in the 55th position with the score of 6,012 which provides a comprehensive bird’s-eye view of the state of happiness in Malaysia. This is a stark contrast from being ranked fifth in the Sapien Labs study.
Publishing reports of no creditability and authenticity should not happen in the first place. Any report published must be from creditable organisation so as not to hype Malaysian feel-good psyche momentarily.
Any report on online or offline portal or media must be genuine. Let us not mislead the public for political expediency or any other reasons.
This kind of contradictory survey and report from an irreputable organisation verses a renowned one such as the UN will make Malaysian lose confidence in future reports. – March 12, 2024
K. Tamil Maran
Seremban
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image credit: The Star
