Background Story: WORLD HAPPINESS RANKINGS: S'PORE RANKED 24TH MOST HAPPY COUNTRY
Very interesting report. From a preliminary look, here are the pertinent facts:
We're number 24. The greatest contributor to that ranking is our high GDP per capita. Maybe if the report had used median income, we would rank lower because of our high income inequality.
The smallest contributor is social support. This means, relative to the other countries that are ranked close to us, we have one of the worst social support systems. So while our social support system isn't the worst in the world, it's certainly dragging our happiness ranking down.
Other indicators examined in the report include: healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption.
As one might expect, we have no problems with corruption, freedom to make life choices, generosity and healthy life expectancy--all of which we are generally very thankful for in this country.
But it's unclear how corruption is defined by the report. Arguably, the more relevant measurement of our satisfaction with the integrity of our public servants would be the level of neopatrimonialism present in the system rather than the level of formally identified and prosecuted corruption. Or in other words, what matters more, especially in the context of million dollar salaries, is how state resources are being used by people in power to further their own interests--or those of their relatives and friends--rather than those of the nation.
Perhaps when I actually get down to reading the report, some of these issues will resolve themselves. What is clear though is that the ranking isn't just some fuzzy measurement of each person's subjective state of happiness. It's more like a quality of life ranking that emphasises aspects of our lives that more economics-heavy indices typically don't.
Carlton Tan
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/carltontansg/posts/349863185213439?pnref=story