Taiwan is the happiest place in Asia, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report, published Thursday.
Of the 147 places around the world that were ranked this year, it took the 27th spot, moving up from 31st last year, and dethroning Singapore’s top position on the list. Taiwan is a democratically self-ruled island that Beijing considers part of its territory.
Topping the global happiness list this year is once again the Nordic countries, with Finland leading in first place for the eighth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The World Happiness Report is a joint effort by some of the world’s leading experts and researchers in well-being science. The happiness ranking is powered by data from the Gallup World Poll which measured individuals’ self-assessed life evaluations, averaged over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024.
Experts also analyzed data across six key factors:
Gross domestic product per capita
Social support
Healthy life expectancy
Freedom
Generosity
Corruption
While the happiness ranking is based on the respondents’ subjective ratings on their own quality of life, the six variables can help provide deeper insight and explain differences across nations, according to the report.
Here are the happiest places in Asia, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report:
Taiwan
Singapore
Vietnam
Thailand
Japan
Philippines
Republic of Korea
Malaysia
China
Mongolia
