Does the Happiness Index Reflect People’s Wellbeing?

Recently, Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah said the following in response to the Malaysia Happiness Index 2022: “We are among the happy states. Happy means that the people are satisfied, the people are happy even if there are problems. That is why we are included in the happiness index. We got a score of 7.0, slightly different from Terengganu’s 7.2. Compared to Selangor’s 5.0, it is much different. That is a state that is said to be intelligent, ruled by Pakatan Harapan, the land is abundant, the state is rich, but the people are not happy.” But is the happiness index a good tool to measure how well citizens of a particular state (or country) is doing?  We discuss this with James Chai, political analyst and Visiting Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

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