International Happiness Day finds mood mixed among Thais
Ahead of the 1st International Day of Happiness on Wednesday, the UN ranks Thailand the world's 52ndhappiest among 156 countries, and third in Asean after Singapore (33rd in the world) and Malaysia (51st).
But the 2012 UN World Happiness Report also placed Thailand eighth in another type of happiness evaluation – the “good mood” rankings. Thailand’s overall happiness index arose to 33.59 points, with Nakhon Phanom being the “happiest” province, Bangkok glum at 65th, and Samut Songkram least happy.
Mental Health Department chief Wachira Pengchan said the survey had found that Thais were generally cheerful, but development was needed in order to elevate people’s sense of satisfaction with their income, employment, community relations, values promoting happiness and religion, physical health, mental health, family relationships, education and gender and social equity.
He urged people to spend time with their family, engage in “happinessboosting” activities (such as regular exercise and meditation), secure stable jobs that delivered sufficient income, and avoid becoming indebted to loansharks.
He said that communities should also look out for the elderly, the chronically ill, singleparent families, drug/alcohol addicts and the disabled.
The survey found the ”happiest” province was Nakhon Panom, followed by Phichit, Trang, Chaiyaphum and Krabi, while the least happy provinces were Samut Songkram, followed by Samut Prakan, Sa Kaew, Phuket, Nong Khai and Kanchanaburi.
She ventured that Nakhon Phanom was happiest because it had middle income but high family security, while the least happy provinces had high numbers of migrant workers who had left their families to find work, hence their mood was bleaker.
She said that migration for education, however, had a different effect as such migrants tended to be full of hope for a brighter future. She said Bangkok was both a hub of political conflict and a place where people didn’t spend enough time with family, both of which took a toll on mental health.
