Philippine Showbiz Today Vol 12 No 6 | Page 4

4 Philippine Showbiz Today

4 Philippine Showbiz Today

March 22 - April 7 , 2017
A new report shows Norway is the happiest country on Earth .
Norway jumped to the top slot in the World Happiness Report released on March 20 although prices of oil , a key part of its economy , are falling .
Income in the United States has gone up over the past decade , but happiness is declining .
The United States was 14th in the latest ranking , down from No . 13 last year , and over the years Americans steadily have been rating themselves less happy .
“ It ’ s the human things that matter . If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationship between people , is it worth it ?” asked John Helliwell , the lead author of the report and an economist at the University of British Columbia in Canada . “ The material can stand in the way of the human .”
Canada ranks 7th in the list of happiest countries in the world .
While Canada is ahead of the U . S . in the rankings , it has also dropped a spot . It was No . 6 last year .
The report also shows that Filipinos have been happier citizens in the past year – 10 notches higher , to be exact .
The Philippines ranked 72nd

World Happiness Report : Norway tops list , Canada is 7th , Philippines ranks 72nd

out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Report for 2017 , according to data released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations .
Last year , the Philippines was No . 82 on the list .
Norway , now on top , rose from No . 4 in 2016 .
Norway edged past previous leader Denmark , which fell to second . Iceland , Switzerland and Finland round out the top 5 .
The United States is 14th in the latest rankings , down from No . 13 last year , and over the years Americans steadily have been rating themselves less happy .
In Asia , Singapore is the happiest country , at No . 26 overall , followed by Thailand ( 32 ), Taiwan ( 33 ), Malaysia ( 42 ), Japan ( 51 ), Hong Kong ( 71 ), China ( 79 ) and Indonesia ( 81 ).
The Philippines scored high in the social support area measure of the Happiness Index ( 1.254 ), followed by gross domestic product ( GDP ) per capita ( 0.858 ), freedom to make life choices ( 0.585 ), health life expectancy ( 0.468 ), generosity ( 0.194 ) and perceptions of corruption ( 0.099 ).
The Philippines was also
among top 20 gainers in terms of Changes in Happiness from 2005-2007 to 2014-2016 , which showed average ladder scores increasing by 0.50 or more , alongside Thailand in Asia .
The Central African Republic fell to the last position on the list , and is joined at the bottom by Burundi , Tanzania , Syria and Rwanda .
The report ranks 155 countries . The economists have been ranking countries since 2012 , but the data used goes back farther so the economists can judge trends .
The rankings are based on gross domestic product per
person , healthy life expectancy with four factors from global surveys . In those surveys , people give scores from 1 to 10 on how much social support they feel they have if something goes wrong , their freedom to make their own life choices , their sense of how corrupt their society is and how generous they are .
While most countries were either getting happier or at least treading water , America ’ s happiness score dropped 5 per cent over the past decade . Venezuela and the Central African Republic slipped the most over the past decade . Nicaragua and Latvia increased the most . ●
# 255-610 Sixth St ., New Westminster , B . C . V3L 3C2 Cell : 778-895-6667 Office : 604-524-8644 Fax : 604-588-6387 Email : reyfort @ gmail . com
Rey Fortaleza Insurance Broker