KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is now the fourth happiest country in Asia, according to this year’s World Happiness Report.

The latest raking also put Malaysia as the 42nd happiest country among 155 nations, five places up from last year’s report.

Other neighbouring countries which saw a more cheery placing included Thailand (32 from 33), Taiwan (33 from 42 ), Vietnam (94 from 96) and the Philippines (72 from 82).

Singaporeans appeared to be a less delighted lot in the past year, falling from 22nd place to 26th.The top 10 happiest places remained somewhat the same.

Norway, the Land of the Midnight Sun, is right on top, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.

The report, which started in 2012, is produced by the Sustainable Solutions Network and relies on data gathered by the Gallup World Poll.

“All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance,” the report said.

Countries are ranked using three-year averages of data collected with the latest report covering 2014-2016.

Some 3,000 respondents from each country were asked to rate their life evaluations.

By the way, you may not want to be in Central African Republic, Burundi and Tanzania.

These are the three unhappiest countries in the world, according to the report.

Source: The Star Online