Though Malaysia fared reasonably well in the report, it nevertheless experienced a decline, dropping five places from the previous year.
In the latest World Happiness Report, Taiwan has emerged as the happiest place in Asia, securing the 27th spot globally among 147 countries. This marks a significant rise from its 31st position last year, overtaking Singapore, which now ranks 34th globally (and 2nd in Asia).
Taiwan is a self-ruled democratic island, but while it considers itself as distinct from China, Beijing has very strong opposing opinions on the matter, and considers Taiwan a part of its territory. This simmering dispute doesn’t seem to have put a damper on the relative happiness of the Taiwanese population, though.
The top five positions globally are dominated by Nordic countries, with Finland leading for the eighth consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
The World Happiness Report evaluates countries based on data from the Gallup World Poll, focusing on individuals’ self-assessed life evaluations averaged over a three-year period (2022-2024). Six key factors underpin these evaluations:
- Gross domestic product per capita
- Social support
- Healthy life expectancy
- Freedom to make life choices
- Generosity
- Perceptions of corruption
These variables offer deeper insights into the disparities in happiness levels across different countries.
Asia’s Top 10 Happiest Countries in 2025:
- Taiwan
- Singapore
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Japan
- Philippines
- Republic of Korea
- Malaysia
- China
- Mongolia
Malaysia’s position at 8th among Asian countries reflects a decline, as it dropped five places from its previous ranking, falling behind several of its regional neighbours in the process. It’s possible that the corruption perception metric played a part, as it’s a significant component of the survey, but that information wasn’t immediately available.
Vietnam has made impressive strides in the other direction, climbing from 54th place in 2024 to 46th in 2025, marking an impressive ascent of nearly 40 places since 2020.
A notable finding in this year’s report is the notable impact of social interactions on well-being. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University and editor of the 2025 World Happiness Report, highlighted that sharing meals and trusting others are potent predictors of happiness, sometimes even surpassing traditional determinants like health and wealth. The report emphasizes that the frequency of shared meals correlates strongly with higher life satisfaction. In an era marked by social isolation and political polarization, fostering communal activities like shared meals is crucial for enhancing individual and collective well-being.
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