• Vietnam climbs up to 79th in global happiness ranking.

• The ranking measured the happiness level in 149 economies across the world, based on six factors.

• Visit Vietnam Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Vietnam has climbed up four spots to 79th out of 149 countries and territories included in the 2021 World Happiness Report.

Vietnam scored 5.411 points, up from the 5.353 it got last year, according to the latest report released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative launched by the United Nations in 2012.

Using data from a Gallup World Poll, the ranking measured the happiness level in 149 economies across the world, based on six factors: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and absence of corruption.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s position was better than Malaysia (81), Indonesia (82), Laos (100), Cambodia (114) and Myanmar (126). It ranked behind Singapore (32), Thailand (54th) and the Philippines (61).

Among the six factors, Vietnam performed best in freedom to make life choices, ranking 9th globally, while its generosity factor fared worst, at 112nd, with Vietnamese people deemed less generous than neighboring peers.

Life expectancy at birth in Vietnam is 68 years, putting the country in 50th place, while Singapore tops the world at 77 years, the report said.

Vietnam ranked 67th in social support and 98th in per capita GDP.

The country’s per capita income in 2020 was at $2,750, nearly 1.3 times higher than $2,109 in 2015.

In terms of corruption perception, Vietnam was in 68th place, much higher than Asian peers like South Korea and Japan.

By Quy Nguyen @ VNExpress.

__ATA.cmd.push(function() {
__ATA.initDynamicSlot({
id: ‘atatags-1882726251-60561ca1023ac’,
location: 120,
formFactor: ‘001’,
label: {
text: ‘Advertisements’,
},
creative: {
reportAd: {
text: ‘Report this ad’,
},
privacySettings: {
text: ‘Privacy settings’,
}
}
});
});