Taiwan ranked 27th in world, 1st in East Asia for happiness

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Taiwan has been ranked the 27th happiest place in the world and the first in East Asia by the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre's World Happiness Report 2025.

In the report published Wednesday, Taiwan's score of 6.669 out of 10 put it ahead of Japan, which ranked 55th, South Korea at 58th, China at 68th, Mongolia at 77th and Hong Kong at 88th.

Of the 140 countries and regions ranked by the index, Finland remained at the top for the eighth consecutive year with a score of 7.736.

Denmark came second with a score of 7.521, with Iceland (7.515), Sweden (7.345) and the Netherlands (7.306) rounding out the top five.

The rankings were based on the average scores of individuals' self-reported well-being combined across the last three years, from 2022 to 2024, according to the report's website.

Factors including GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption are also measured to attempt to explain the variations across countries and over time, the report said.

Analysis of the report said that it showed "belief in the kindness of others is much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought."

People are universally shown to be too pessimistic about their communities' kindness than the reality, the analysis said, adding that "actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect."

"Investing in positive social connections and engaging in benevolent actions are both matched by greater happiness," said Lara B. Aknin, a professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University and editor of the World Happiness Report.

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board, according to the website.

The report, first published in April 2012, is released each year around March 20 to coincide with the International Day of Happiness, the website said.