 According to a new study. These are the happiest Asian countries in the entire world. Well, why are they so happy? Yeah, we are talking about Singapore and we are talking about Taiwan, but here's the funny thing Andrew They rank number one and number two in Asia, but number 25 and 27th in the world So that's sort of asked the question. Why are even the happiest Asians not really that happy? Do Asians have trouble being happy or maybe it's the expectations anyways guys We're gonna talk about it. Please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot-pot boys Smala sauce is out for pre-orders. You hear it here first. I didn't even blast it out yet Andrew is it kind of like the NBA or like, you know where the best players from Asia? They're they're in there, but they're still not that good in the NBA right right like his happiness Become like basketball. All right, let's go. What are the rankings? All right So if we look at the happiest countries in the world that goes Finland Denmark Iceland Israel the Netherlands Sweden Norway Switzerland Luxembourg in New Zealand if we go to the least Happiest countries in the world. It's South Sudan Central African Republic Afghanistan Tanzania Rwanda Yemen Malawi Syria Botswana Haiti That means everybody else Andrew falls somewhere in the middle now Here's the interesting thing the things that they pull for happiness are GDP per capita Social support healthy life expectancy freedom to make life choices generosity and perceptions of corruption and dystopia Okay, so I mean right off the bat when we talk about the Asian countries Taiwan and Singapore They're not known to be corrupt right and there is I would say Taiwan is more I guess free than Singapore Singapore you can't get fined and arrested for doing a number of things However, I would also argue that Singapore is a lot more Western than Taiwan where single in Singapore English is the national language right, I do think Singapore Kind of tries to you wield the the best things from the west and the best things from the east, you know That's kind of like how I would say that's kind of seems like their philosophy in that country Right, right, right in Asia by the way It goes Singapore Taiwan Japan Malaysia South Korea Thailand Mongolia China Vietnam Philippines Nepal Hong Kong Indonesia Laos Pakistan Sri Lanka Cambodia Myanmar Bangladesh India all the way down at 126 globally near the bottom of Asia Andrew and then Afghanistan after that, you know Obviously they considered Afghanistan in Asia for this whole I'll tell you this I think a lot of it there is like real things you can draw from that make you unhappy But once you get on the top end, it's more about like perception Even maybe versus like are you on an upward arc or downward arc by all means Andrew Japan a great place Some people there are a little pessimistic for the future Right still really really low crime rates really clean really technologically advanced But people don't have as much hope as in Singapore, right? I mean I would say to be honest and I guess it's not surprising in a way But the Philippines being number five, I would say that's pretty high up in Asia Yes, you know considering that Philippines on the government end can get a little messy, right? There's a lot of controversy there But some of the HDI metrics human development index numbers metrics might not be as good But it's their mindset right I mean Filipinos. I get the stereotype is that they're more happy. They're more jolly Well, I guess the jolly bees a lot of people were saying that Latin cultures They may be happier even though certain index metrics may not be as high They still find a way to be happy whether it's through family through religion through Interpersonal sociality and pings so you're saying potentially that kind of Latino country trait of being happy is Partially affecting the Philippines Philippines rank relative to Asia, but they're all together Asia ranks way below its GDP numbers, right? Whereas obviously Scandinavia was the happiest those Scandinavian Scandinavians apparently are super happy, but you know actually I believe that the The suicide rate in Scandinavia in in Japan South Korea all these Asian countries actually still pretty high But I guess that doesn't I don't think it's a high in Singapore in Taiwan, right? But that's not the determining factor either. Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with the beachiness at that point potentially Was that vitamin D vitamin B different the androgens inside of the body that are Impacted by climate the amount of fruit that they eat. I Mean, there's a lot of fruit in Singapore in Taiwan, right, right, right? And of course by the way guys, I think the internet rebelled against these studies Of course unhappy Singapore reddit unhappy Taiwan reddit. They listed all these reasons, but let's be honest Don't and I'm not even saying that people who are negative are wrong, but they're not looking at all the arguments on both sides Anyway, let's just get into the comment section Some people was like man, who knows who's happy these days, man But what what if you just have your happiness driven by superficiality so Singapore is by far the richest country in Southeast Asia What if they're just driven by the fact that they're richer than everybody and that makes them feel good? Yeah, I do think it's a clean and safe country too though Yeah, but if that's what makes them feel good literally these things are their poles Yeah, so it's like everybody has different things that make them happy I will say this Taiwan and Singapore very safe places also generally friendly people Kind of happy Island culture like you said a lot of fruit a lot of sunshine Somebody said is Asia just a sad place in general. Why is the GDP of some of the countries even per capita so high? But everybody even the number one country only ranks 25 in the world. I Don't think Asia is the happiest place for the people because my theory is that Asians have such high Expectations for things right so then even the happiest place in Asia isn't gonna be the happiest place in the world Yeah, a lot of people were saying, you know, it has to do with Confucianism and the complexity of these ancient dynastic Imperial structures because someone was like yeah, man even learning the Chinese language You got to learn like 10,000 characters and you have to write each character so many times does not make your life fun And let's be honest the whole concept of even happy I'm not saying that Chinese haven't had a word like that for centuries But I would say the general idea of happiness is more of a Western idea like what it means to be radiating in this like Jane Fonda like who I don't even know who the guy I think Like Mentos commercial I think Asians can be really like content and like calm and at peace But I don't know if the happiness is ever gonna reach that level Confucius you pulled a number on us People were talking about of course all the problems in Taiwan right now Obviously, there's a threat of war maybe lower wages There's a lot of political Jostling right now between two are multiple ruling parties in Taiwan other people said Singapore it costs so much money It's so expensive and everybody feels like they're so casso and like oh my kid got into a better elementary school Then my other kid. How can my kid compete in the society a couple realistic? But I think ultimately people would take those problems over more visceral like lower on Maslow's hierarchy of needs problems Right. Yeah, everybody got problems. I think entertainment is part of it to make you happy, too I think Philippines they for example consume a lot of entertainment. So I think that helps. Yeah, that's a good point Who bow tied to I would say Singapore some people are saying Singapore's numbers are only so high because it's such a Self-selective population that wants to be an authoritarian government Mm-hmm. So if you only let those people be there, of course, they're happy because they were already pre-selected It's not they were just like born into it Are they saying that the Singaporeans who were unhappy will just move out of Singapore possibly that makes sense I always said this about New York City. If you truly hate New York City, you'll leave It's easier to leave and go to LA and move there where you fit in right lower cost of rent in LA the weather is better You can drive a car But I'm saying in New York You have to love it to stay here or it has to be meaningful to you somehow because if you really hate it You'll just leave right right right. It's uh, it's such a I don't want to say an acquired taste But it's not for everybody for sure other people are talking about why is India ranked so low a hundred twenty-fifth in the world It's got all these uh, you know, obviously it got a good space program It's got the software capital of the world. Bollywood is a major economic force in that region Why is India ranked so low? So I did some research into this. I just asked my Indian friend This is what he told me he told me that at the top end there is a lot of great stuff happening But in terms of the distribution of resources, it's not going to the middle or the lower end So it's like if you're a high-end person or you might be the recipient of those things, you know So it's all I think I think that's the main thing to a happiness when you pull a lot of people It's like how well is the resources distributed throughout the different tiers of your society? So good point somebody said Americans are always complaining. It's hard to believe that they're number 15 Why do Americans complain so much about their society and how it's always falling apart? But they're still pretty high and then someone said yeah But that's because complaining to Americans gives them dopamine which makes them happy also complaining on the internet That's not actually real life man. A lot of people complain. Oh America's declining society is crumbling and then they'll go off and take their kids to a soccer game And then they watch their kid score a goal and they go to a bar and like watch like on a hundred sports screens A hundred different sports leagues that are all centered in America. The internet is way more negative than real life is I'm not saying real life doesn't have its negatives and we need to focus on those and we need them to get those things better But the internet is like gonna be two to three times as negative Somebody said who even defines what happiness is I could believe that these countries Singapore and Taiwan are the relatively most Happiest in Asia, but what does it mean even in regards to a total spectrum of happiness? I think that these are all good questions to be honest Asia just been about productivity in my opinion it ain't about being happy and That's just a pro in the condo that whole region for probably thousands of years to be honest if we look at it from a Western Iscale let me say this I think Asia is all about being safe and productive Safe and productive a lot of Asian countries are safe for the most part most of them, right? And I think that that's what a lot of them want to try to focus That's why I always tell my daughter my son is so unhappy They so unhappy I tell you you're safe you are one or not take you to the next country next door It's not even safe. We can eat at Haka stall whenever we want Voila. Anyways shout out to Singapore and Taiwan both very pleasant places to visit. I've been to both Multiple times. Here's the truth man real metrics. They matter, but there's also the perception and it just depends on how you wait I'm let us know what you think of this study in the comments section below Until next time we the hot pot boys we out Be happy