TAIPEI, Taiwan — Growing up, Huang Wen-chun remembers listening to friends and family complain about life in Taiwan. So when she saw news reports declaring Taiwan the happiest place in Asia, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.
“When I was young, everyone believed that the moon was rounder abroad,” said the 25-year-old freelance worker in Taipei. “As I got older, I realized there are so many ways in which Taiwan surpasses everywhere else.”
According to the annual World Happiness Report, the island democracy has surpassed Singapore as the happiest place in Asia. Globally Taiwan ranked 27th, while the top three spots went to Finland, Denmark and Iceland.
The report, which draws on Gallup World Poll data, is compiled by asking more than 100,000 participants in over 140 countries to rank their lives on a scale from 1, worst possible, to 10, best possible. Taiwan averaged a response of 6.669 over the past three years.
The World Happiness Report also cited factors such as having someone to count on, economic development, healthy life expectancy, generosity and the freedom of choice and freedom from corruption as reasons for a feeling of contentment. It also attributed high levels of happiness to activities such as volunteering and sharing meals with others.
One thing Huang appreciates about Taiwan is the sense of safety. When she was a high school student, she visited Oakland on a trip to California, where thieves broke into her family’s car. Then they were targeted by scammers, who claimed they were sent to tow the car. When her father asked about a replacement vehicle, they drove away.
“In Taiwan, I never had to worry about this kind of thing,” she said.
Office workers pray for business prosperity as their company reopens after Chinese New Year holidays in Taipei, Taiwan, in February 2020.
(DAVID CHANG/EPA-EFE/REX/DAVID CHANG/EPA-EFE/REX)
In interviews, Taiwanese pointed to universal healthcare, an open and friendly society, freedom of expression and convenience in daily life as other potential contributors to local happiness. But some residents were not convinced that Taiwan should rank the highest in happiness in all of Asia.
“Right now, I don’t feel particularly happy, because of the pressures of inflation,” said 55-year-old Shen Shi-hung, who runs a food stall in Taipei. “But on the whole, Taiwanese people are very friendly and the quality of life is very good.”
Yu Ruoh-rong, a professor at Taipei-based research institution Academia Sinica, said that while the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with loneliness, her research indicated that most Taiwanese people had reverted back to their previous social lives. “Even people who are single or live alone seem to easily gather with friends, and find people to share meals with,” she added.
Yu, who has helped the Taiwanese government conduct happiness surveys, said that such reports often garner reactions of surprise from the general public. She said that while younger generations have some frustrations with economic stagnation, their sense of well being rates higher than prior generations.
Stagnant wage growth and high housing prices are common complaints among Taiwanese. “When I saw the news I was a bit confused,” said Shen Wan-ju, a 37-year-old accountant in Taipei. “I feel like the salary growth is not quite keeping up with the increase in our cost of living,” she continued, adding that the cost of raising kids puts a lot of pressure on parents. While Shen does not have children, she has watched her brother work hard to send his two sons to good schools.
“Honestly, it seems really hard to be parents. The cost of providing a good education for your child is getting higher,” she said.
Taiwan’s birth rate has fallen so low that it’s considered a national crisis, prompting the government to provide more financial support and matchmaking services for singles. Last year, the fertility rate, or the number of children the average woman will bear in her lifetime, was 0.885, among the lowest in the world.
The title of “happiest place in Asia,” also coincides with increasing military threats from China, which claims the self-governed island as a part of its territory. In 2021, the Economist labeled Taiwan “the most dangerous place on Earth.”
But Tony Yang, a professor in health policy at the George Washington University School of Nursing, said the ability of Taiwanese to adapt to adversity such as ongoing tensions with China and see happiness as a fluctuating condition contribute to the quality of life.
“Despite persistent threats, daily life proceeds with remarkable normalcy and optimism,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Taipei Times. “This is not denial, but an ability to hold contradictory realities simultaneously — acknowledging threats while refusing to let them dominate our collective consciousness.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
