As step into a new year, it feels natural to evaluate our lives in the past one year and set a better vision for the year to come.
Let’s take this opportunity to ask ourselves: are we happy in 2021?
If the answer is a resounding yes, then we are so happy for you! But if the answer is a no, then we’re sorry, and that’s okay. Happiness is not a competition, and we can always look forward to a happier future if we don’t like where we are now. But we certainly hope you are happy, or at least strive to be; after all, scientific evidence has shown that happiness is closely linked to physical health.
Now, let’s ask the same question in a larger context: are Malaysians happy? To answer this question on a national level, let’s look at none other than the World Happiness Report.
What’s the World Happiness Report?
The World Happiness Report (WHR) is a publication by a group of independent experts, funded by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network under United Nations and many other renowned institutions. The annual publication publishes analysis on the happiness and well-being of people living in different countries, and assigns each country a World Happiness Ranking.
Source: Happiness Research Institute
Rich, Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Denmark and Switzerland have always been in the Top 3 happiest countries; while poor countries burdened with internal conflicts such as Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen are unfortunately at the bottom of the rankings.
The latest World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared. If you’re interested to read the reports, click here.
Can happiness of a country be measured?
It’s not easy to answer the question ‘ are you happy’ on a personal level, let alone on a national level. Nonetheless, many experts have decided to analyse the happiness of the people in a country based on the following indicators:
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Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita — a measure of income
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Healthy life expectancy — a measure of how long does one can live (on average) in healthy conditions
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Social support — a measure of a person’s connection to friends and family members
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Freedom to make life choices
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Generosity— a measure of how generous the people in a country to donate or involved in charity
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Perceptions of corruptions — a measure of how the people in a country perceive the corruptions practices in their government and businesses
(Data based on World Happiness Report 2019; the indicator of World Happiness Report 2021 is not mentioned because of its primary focus on the pandemic)
These data are based on the survey results of the Gallup World Poll. The survey involved about 1,000 to 3,000 people per country. With a 95% confidence interval, the experts can extrapolate these data to estimate happiness at a national level.
You may ask: why use these as measurements? According to the World Happiness Report, these measurements reflect what has been broadly found in the research literature to be important in explaining national-level differences in life evaluations. Some important variables, such as unemployment or inequality, do not appear because comparable international data are not yet available for the full sample of countries. So this doesn’t mean that any factors that are not mentioned here are not important to happiness; they are, but there’s always limitations when doing research and analysis.
What influences Malaysian’s happiness?
Now, do you think Malaysia is a happy country? The 2021 report ranked Malaysia as the 81st happiest country in the world from a total of 149 nations; in 2020, it’s #82.
Before the pandemic hits, here’s how Malaysia performs on the happiness index:
Source: Malaysia’s Performance in World Happiness Report 2019
So it seems like Malaysia is becoming less happy since the year 2019. This is understandable, considering how devastating the COVID-19 pandemic is to almost every country on the planet, not just Malaysia.
Besides the pandemic, the following also contributes to Malaysia’s unhappiness:
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Distrust in government — the World Values Survey (WVS) revealed that many Malaysians have lost faith in the government due to many scandals and corruption cases in Malaysia's political scene.
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Losing financial security— only 3% of EPF contributors in Malaysia can afford retirement! With the skyrocketed living and housing costs but meagre income, many Malaysians struggle to get by.
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Heavy social media use — Being one of the countries with the most active social media users, Malaysian’s heavy usage of social media may be another reason for misery in their lives.
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Lack of mental health support— Our country’s lack of awareness about mental health fuels unhappiness further. Many Malaysians shy away from seeking mental health, or are not able to afford mental health services due to high treatment costs.
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Job dissatisfaction— A recent JobStreet.com survey on Employee Job Satisfaction in Malaysia found that 78% of the respondents claimed that they were unhappy with their current job.
Let’s switchgear and be a glass half full kind of person. While Malaysia has much room for improvement in the realm of happiness, there are things that we have done right. We have one of the best healthcare systems in the world, and many Malaysians benefitted from high quality care without breaking the bank account. Malaysia is also one of the few countries that vaccinated most of its people against COVID-19 within a few months, which is really spectacular. While Malaysia is not a rich country, we are a higher-middle-income country that is free from natural disasters, internal conflicts and has a harmonious society. We don’t need data to say that these factors are crucial to a person’s happiness.
To a happier post-pandemic world
Year 2020 is the year of the post-pandemic era. The pandemic may have changed your perspectives on your life and the world, and we hope that you become a wiser and happier person because of that. To be a happier person, allows us to offer you a few reminders:
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Maintain your physical health by eating well and staying physically active
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Take care of your mental health by being mindful of your emotional and mental state. If needed, seek life coaching or professional mental health services
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Build financial literacy. We don’t mean that you can only be happy if you are millionaire (that’s not true), but financial security can make achieving happiness way easier
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Stay socially connected. You don’t have to be a social butterfly; having two to three people that you can count on in life is good enough
There are many ways to achieve happiness, and your job is to chart your own unique path to happiness.
We wish you a happy 2022.
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Cover image credit: Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash
