Thailand Is the Happiest APAC Country, Survey Shows

Thailand claimed top spot (7.62/10) among all the APAC countries that participated in Votee’s 2023 Happiness Index, besting the likes of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

The polling took into account the feedback of more than 85,000 respondents, and ran from October 2021 to December 2022. As for the methodology, Votee uses a machine-learning algorithm called Random Cut Forest (RCF) that utilises previously available datasets and an anomaly detection tool to forecast a “happiness index data trend.”

Based on the findings, the Philippines came a close second with (7.59/10) while Indonesia (7.43/10), Malaysia (7.24/10), and Vietnam (7.16/10) rounded up the top five. Curiously, the poll found a correlation between countries with lower GDP per capita and happiness, with all the five happiest nations not exceeding US$10,000. The bottom three in the list, namely Singapore (6.28/10), Taiwan (6.17/10), and Hong Kong (5.60/10), have high GDP per capita relative to international standards.

In the report, Votee focused much on Hong Kong’s happiness levels, saying that despite being currently at the bottom, it will sink further to a 5.5 rating in April but will bounce back to 6.0 starting May and onwards.

Here are other interesting findings within the report:

• Happiness levels tend to dip during Q4 of the year (except for Hong Kong)
• Across all months when poll was conducted, male respondents are on average happier than female respondents
• Happiness levels in all countries are predicted to either go down or remain stable through H1 2023, except Hong Kong