Singapore is 30th happiest country in the world

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http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/singapore-now-happier-place

If Singaporeans have any reason to smile, it's because their nation has moved up three places to be the 30th happiest country in the world.

This is according to a United Nations (UN) study ranking 156 countries and territories on happiness levels.

The little red dot is also Asia's happiest country for the second time, according to the second edition of the World Happiness Report, released on Monday.

On a scale from 1 to 10, Singapore got a score of 6.546. The study shows how people rate their emotional happiness and evaluate their life as a whole.

The report, by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, looked at six areas to determine why people in a country or territory are happier than those in others. They are:

1. gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; 
2. years of healthy life expectancy; 
3. having someone to count on in times of trouble; 
4. perceptions of corruption; 
5. prevalence of generosity; 
6. and freedom to make life choices

The top five happiest countries were in Europe. Denmark is No. 1 with a score of 7.693, followed by Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden. After Singapore, the happiest countries and territories in Asia are Thailand (No. 36 globally), South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.