Taiwan overtakes Singapore as the happiest country in Asia

It's official: Taiwan is the happiest country in Asia. That's according to the World Happiness Report 2025, an annual study of happiness levels published by the University of Oxford, Gallup, and the United Nations.

Taiwan unseats Singapore, which topped Asia's happiness chart for two years running, swinging in at No. 27 globally. The Lion City dropped to second place – No. 34 globally, four places down from its 2024 ranking.

There's some reshuffling among Asia's happiest countries: Kazakhstan jumps into the top 10, closely trailing Singapore as the third-happiest country in Asia. Vietnam, previously ranked No. 6 in Asia, is now the fourth-happiest country in the region. It's also one of the biggest gainers of well-being, alongside the Philippines (No. 57), China (No. 68), and Mongolia (No. 77), when comparing current average life evaluations with those during the first years of the Gallup World Poll (2005-2010). 

The rankings were determined based on average self-assessments by more than 100,000 global respondents over three years (2022-2024). Six variables were considered: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity, and corruption.

Happiness in Asia 

Things like GDP and life expectancy are certainly important to well-being. But this year's report also sheds light on how non-economic factors like eating together, living with others, and benevolent acts impact happiness.

It observed that acts of benevolence – volunteering, donating money, helping strangers – declined in most regions between 2023 and 2024. But happily, South Asia and Southeast Asia's benevolence levels have remained stable, which is encouraging. After all, the report is pretty clear that levels of benevolence (and our perception of how likely the people around us are to lend a helping hand) have strong links to happiness and well-being. 

On the flip side, Asians now have fewer meals together. South Asia and Southeast Asia reported some of the lowest frequencies of meal sharing while eating alone is rising in countries like Japan and South Korea. It seems trivial, but the report found that the more meals shared, the greater the individual sense of well-being – food for thought for building happier nations. 

These are the 10 happiest countries in Asia for 2025:

1. Taiwan – No. 27
2. Singapore – No 34
3. Kazakhstan – No. 43
4. Vietnam – No. 46
5. Thailand – No. 49
6. Japan – No. 55
7. Philippines – No. 57
8. South Korea – No. 58
9. Malaysia – No. 64
10. China – No. 68

And the happiest country in the world? Find out in our global coverage of the World Happiness Report 2025. 

Other happy places in Asia: Asia's 'happiest' beach is in Sri Lanka

Plus: the underrated Southeast Asian country that's the cheapest place to travel to in 2025