Why They Are The HAPPIEST ASIANS....

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. Hit that like button and subscribe to the Hot Pop 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 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. Well, let's talk about Taiwan and Singapore, David, because we 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 Taiwan and Singapore, here's the similarities. They're both smaller island countries. Taiwan is much bigger than Singapore, but still small compared to other countries. Warmer countries, beachy. They eat a lot of fruit there. They got the Southeast Asian fruit. Also, I think that they generally have a higher social floor, like they kind of have a strong middle class for the most part. They do. Yeah. And these are actually Chinese diasporic countries where the majority of people are Chinese, but they're not China. Are you trying to say Singapore and Taiwan are where the happiest Chinese people live in the world? That's where you see happy Chinese people? And man, you will die. OK, listen, we got to get into the Internet comments and then we're going to get into our takeaways. 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? 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 an excuse 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. 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's 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 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 is 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. Somebody said, 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 the 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. None of these are like war torn zone countries, to be honest. Obviously, those don't rank very high. There's some scientific basis for it. 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, I think that these tests actually measure the conditions that are the fundamental prerequisite for happiness, which is different than actually individual happiness. 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. OK, 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, we love Japan. Everybody loves going to Japan. But where do they rank on the happiness scale? Yeah, 47. Yeah, I do think that 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 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. Like 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 the Bucks or like the Celtics. Like 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. Peyton Pritchard's still unhappy, even though he's on the Celtics. Somebody said, you know, these stats always skew in favor of countries where there is a high social floor because the 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. 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, 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 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 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 OK. 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 Taiwan is 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 situations, 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. It is more beachy with a little bit more Southeast Asian influence, not just in the mindset, but maybe even in the weather. Geography and 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 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. 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, it's such an advanced society. And it's also oftentimes compared to Scandinavian countries. It's compared to the Nordic countries as far as design. Aesthetics. And aesthetic and cleanliness. Andrew, 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. Damn, Asians will never be happy, man. I do think it has to do with this 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 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 that Western European countries, like, it's tough because I think a lot of people, they look at them and are like, oh, well, they're all white over there. Like, it's such a homogenous population. You're talking about Scandinavia specifically, right? Yeah, like Finland is like 87% Finnish 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, right? 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 life. 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 even think about that aspect. Hey man, maybe it has to do with the cold plunges that they do over there. The scandals are like, they're sitting in the ice baths for like 15 minutes each and they're like, yeah, this 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 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 to it? And what are the reasons why? Hop out boys until next time we out. Peace.