 it's official Singapore and Taiwan are ranked as the happiest Asian countries in the world now why is that and what can other Asian countries learn from them yeah the 2023 world happiness report was just released by the united nations and are coming in at 25 and 27 we got Singapore and Taiwan however that is still the highest in Asia most of the happiest countries were in Western Europe Scandinavian countries actually there were some Eastern European countries and even Latin American countries that ranked ahead of Taiwan and Singapore so we got to get into some questions Andrew why are Taiwan and Singapore the happiest Asians of the Asian world and then why are the European countries almost categorically all happier than the Asian countries are white people always going to be happier than Asians I need to know all right everybody we're going to dive into this this should be a fun video from silly to serious uh hit that like button and subscribe to the hot pot boys you know what it is real quick real quick Andrew we got to take a look at the criteria okay it's very important for our scientific discussion we're talking about uh the individual satisfaction from citizens social interactions physical health prosperity virtuous behavior societal trust inequality gap government benevolence and state effectiveness and altruism amongst citizens all right uh well let's talk about Taiwan and Singapore day because we've both visited those places multiple times in our life right probably spend more time in Asian countries than like 99.3% of Americans for sure yeah I've been to Ikea but I haven't been to Sweden yet listen guys so uh Taiwan and Singapore here here's the similarities uh they're both smaller island countries Taiwan is much bigger than Singapore but still small compared to other countries warmer countries warm beachy they eat a lot of fruit there they got the Southeast Asian fruit um also I think that uh they generally have a higher social floor like they kind of have a strong middle class for the most part they do yeah and uh these are actually Chinese diasporic countries where the majority of people are Chinese but they're not China are you trying to say that Singapore and Taiwan are where the happiest Chinese people live in the world that's where you see happy Chinese people and man that's that's don't lie okay listen we gotta get to the internet comments and then we're gonna get into our takeaways um first of course Andrew we're unhappy redditors from Taiwan and Singapore some people are like no way they don't even know any better how can people say this this look at all these problems we have in Taiwan that is so ridiculous that they would put Taiwan there that is just going to be excused for them not to fix anything in our country and of course some Singaporeans go wow this is not just a joke of the year this is the joke of the century so stupid I will say considering how strict Taiwanese American parents can be Taiwan is pretty happy I guess yeah like you know what I'm saying like that comment just sounded like it was written by like a like a like a critical Taiwanese mom well she just you know I think in every country the internet people are less happy yeah that's true and they're also very critical we know this somebody said uh the USA came in at number 15 globally man honestly I thought it would be lower with all that miserable stuff we talk about in our media all the time yeah so media-wise sometimes it feels like America's really declining and it's going downhill and there's all these pains and ills and everything like that but I think at the end of the day a lot of people would still want to move to America yeah um somebody's saying who is to say who is happy and who's not man everybody has their own point of view like I just don't know if this these criteria like mean anything like what does a happiness ranking mean I mean they mean something man I think I kind of you know you look at always quality of life you know and safety I think those are big things yeah none of these are like war torn zone countries to be honest that obviously those don't rank very high so there's some scientific basis for this and I would say I am surprised because even though Taiwan is kind of caught in the middle of things right now oh they're still having a good time somebody said uh I think that these tests actually measure the conditions that are the fundamental prerequisite for happiness which is different than actually individual happiness um yeah that makes sense somebody said it's not about economic development it's about materialism look at Latin countries and some Eastern European countries they don't rank that high on the development scale economically but they're happy but yeah that's tough because I would say Singapore and Taiwan are somewhat materialistic places I mean you're talking about Singapore that's the home of crazy rich Asians okay and then Taiwan obviously you know kind of a pop cultural center of the Chinese world and then I'm also thinking like look at Japan David Japan the we love Japan everybody loves going to Japan but where do they rank on the happiness scale yeah 47 yeah I do think that um there's a lot of factors that go into it and like you know they could go this way or they could go that way depending on whatever like mixology of the drink you put together somebody said uh it's a matter of personal choice and decisions the game map you're born into and raised in matters a little bit but really it pales in comparison to your personal choices you mean he's saying or this person is saying that it's your choice to be happy right you have the ability to I don't fully agree with this I agree with this on a micro level but in a macro level I do agree that you do need the fundamental building blocks of happiness to be happy or it's certainly much easier I mean it's much easier to win when you're on the golden state warriors or like uh the bucks or like the Celtics like yeah when you're part of like a winning system it's way easier to win it's true regardless of whatever role you play in that system uh Payton Pritchard's still unhappy even though he's on the Celtics somebody said uh you know these stats always skew in favor of countries where there is a high social floor because an upper middle class person is not that much different in happiness than a wealthy person but a poor person or a super poor person is generally way less happy than the next level above them right and I think this is where like the strong middle class comes into play where usually if you're middle class that means you have all the basic needs in life yeah if Singapore actually has a much bigger wealth disparity than Taiwan however in Singapore they also have the HDB system they have very good social floor systems I really think happiness comes down to expectations now I'm not going to say like oh anybody can be happy obviously it's easier to be happy when you have a better situation but obviously it does come down to uh expectations and it even comes down to a geographical comparing and contrasting with people nearby you whether in your city next right next to you or even in a neighboring country true somebody said uh it's always based off your starting point to your point if you are born into a millionaire family that's what sets your baseline if you're born into a $30,000 per year family that is what also sets your baseline well think about it if you're in Singapore and you're filling this survey out and you're like hmm do I think I'm happy well I look at Malaysia I'm very happy yeah if you're in Singapore you're like yeah my grandpa he came from China and I'm pretty glad I'm not like born there or you're in Taiwan and you're like hmm as a Taiwanese am I happy you look at China yeah I think we're doing okay yeah I think obviously your point of comparison it matters a lot modern China is kind of different like in the sense of where you could be born in the social stratum but yeah of course especially when the time the grandparents that left to Singapore or left to Taiwan is you were way better to leave somebody said you know some cultures more so than others but generally all humans are meant to be dissatisfied with their surroundings and situation and that is what drives progress oh all right so getting into our final questions which we want to answer like why exactly is Taiwan and Singapore so happy and then also why does it seem like categorically Western European countries are always going to be happier than Asian countries I think Singapore and Taiwan have a mix they got a mix of the things that are like hyper capitalistic Japan South Korea has them China to some extent just certain cities has it but it's less bone crushing and it's more beachy with a little bit more Southeast Asian influence not just in the mindset but maybe even in the the weather and the geography in the the climate you want to hear my theory yeah when there's you have a country and people are relatively pretty educated but they have access to delicious night market food oh and tropical fruit you get happy Asians Asians like education and just walking around and eating tasty food and Singapore and Taiwan do those two things great yeah and I think those are like pretty nerdy places you know what I mean like if you think about it like Taiwan has semiconductors Singapore is more known for tech um you know Japan and Korea they have a lot of dope projects and products cultural products like anime k-pop that actually Taiwan and Singapore do not have as global exports but maybe that drive to develop those dope cars and those dope phones is also bone crushing in a happiness way yeah it is pretty sad to see Japan so low because I think Japan you just it's such an advanced society and it's also also oftentimes compared to Scandinavian countries it's compared to the Nordic countries as far as design aesthetics and aesthetic and cleanliness Japan was the number two economy now it's number three China's number two was the number two economy for decades and decades globally but it always ranked low on the happiness metric Asians will never be happy man I do think it has to do with the study I looked up Andrew because this leads us to our final question why is Asia categorically lower than Western Europe even though some Asian countries in more recent years or Japan for a while have high incomes I mean I think uh without knowing all the science behind it and obviously who they surveyed and all these things because you know the survey it means something but it doesn't mean everything I guess I think the Western European countries like it's it's tough because I think a lot of people they look at them and are like oh well uh they're all white over there like it's such a homogenous population like Scandinavia specifically right like Finland is like 87 finished and then 5 Swedish so essentially they're the same people right and then you're like okay does that make you happy just to be in a country of your own people but like Korea Japan they're like pretty much Korean and Japanese right and they have very high GDP they're both top 10 GDP countries but they're ranking low on the happiness scale yeah and so I don't know maybe there's I think there's a lot of there's lower expectations in the Nordic countries in a way because they're not necessarily hubs for technology as much like Finland is I think an advanced country and they do some cool things but honestly it's not like a major player in the world in the same way that South Korea and Japan are it obviously has to do with the gap between your expectations and what is your reality and like you said I think that in Scandinavia they have a lot of things that they like but they're cool with the Volkswagen they don't need to have six cars and have them be luxury whips they just think different about you know but I do think that there's something to be in this study that said Asians struggle with expression and the way they store and recall positive memories I just looked it up so that's actually pretty crazy I didn't think about that aspect hey man maybe it has to do with the cold plunges that they do over there the scandal the scandals are like they're sitting in the ice baths for like 15 minutes each and they're like yeah this so feels nice so you're saying it doesn't have to do with the Ikea versus Muji versus Uniqlo thing who knows man you guys let us know in the comments down below from silly to serious we're covering it all why why is Japan so low on the happiness scale why are so many Western European countries and especially Scandinavian countries so high on the happiness scale and what can we do about it can Asians ever be happy I think the truth is man a lot of countries can take a look at these studies but then to address the fundamental factors that might like change happiness that takes a lot of work so I don't know guys anyway let us know what you think of this study is it even valid is it not valid do you see any truth through it and what are the reasons why hop hop boys until next time we out peace