THE PAP’S POLICIES GIVE SINGAPOREANS HEART ATTACKS?

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The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) released the[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]a few days ago at[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] This is the second annual report. The first one was released last year.

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According to the report, Singapore is ranked the 30th happiest country, among 156 countries (Chart 1).
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Chart 1: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
30th looks good, right? Let’s delve further into the statistics. The happiness ranking is actually made up of a few indicators. I will look at a few of them below.

Interestingly, the happiness ranking also includes a country’s GDP per capita. Among the 156 countries compared, Singapore is the second richest country (Chart 2).
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Chart 2

For the next few comparison charts, I will compare the top 20 richest countries.

For the indicator of social support, Singapore actually ranks at a lower 48th out of the 156 countries, and at the third last among the 20 richest countries (Chart 3). Strong social support refers to “having someone to count on in times of trouble“.
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Chart 3

When it comes to the indicator of freedom (to make life choices), Singapore actually ranks, also at a lower 36th and again, at the third last among the 20 richest countries (Chart 4).
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Chart 4

Next, when we look at the indicator of generosity, Singapore actually ranks at a lowly 110th among all the countries, and 2nd last among the top 20 richest countries (Chart 5).
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Chart 5

According to the report, “Generosity is also interesting, as it has a strong positive link with life evaluations and positive affect.”

So, let’s take a look at the indicator of positive affect, or positive emotions shown.

When it comes to showing positive emotions, Singaporeans actually ranks at a very low 144th and last among the rich countries (Chart 6). Singaporeans show little positive emotions.
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Chart 6

Not surprising then that Singaporeans are not generous, right, since the positive affect is low?

Interestingly, when we look at the indicator of negative affect, or when it comes to showing negative emotions, Singaporeans ranks 8th or second best among the richest countries – Singaporeans show very little negative emotions (Chart 7).
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Chart 7

Does this remind you of the Gallup poll which had ranked Singapore as the “least emotional country in the world”, where “Singaporeans are the least likely in the world to report experiencing emotions of any kind on a daily basis.” (Chart Why have Singaporeans learnt to suppress our emotions?
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Chart 8:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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Chart 9

In fact, when compared to all the rich countries, Asian tigers, Southeast Asian countries, China and India, Singapore is still ranked the most unhappy country (Chart 10).
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Chart 10

So, the World Happiness Report might have ranked Singapore as the 30th happiest country in the world on the overall, but when you drill down into the statistics, Singapore is actually one of the most unhappy countries in the world!

This isn’t the first report to show that Singaporeans are one of the most unhappy people in the world.

The Happy Planet Index 2012 had ranked Singapore at 90th, out of 151 countries (Chart 11).
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Chart 11:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Singaporeans were also ranked the least happy of 148 countries, by Gallup last year (Chart 12)
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This World Happiness Report 2013 had included rankings of the GDP per capita, corruption, and healthy life expectancy – areas which Singapore traditionally does well in – which had thus helped to pull Singapore’s ranking up.

But the actual happiness, the actual emotions? Singaporeans ranks 144th at having positive emotions, and 126th at happiness.

Perhaps Singapore’s financial standing (and contributions) might have something to do with how the survey methodology might be favourable towards Singapore, something that the Singapore government has done right, I suppose. Because, when you talk about happiness, do you naturally correlate it with the country’s GDP per capita, corruption and life expectancy?
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