Vietnam has recently made the list of the 10 happiest countries in the world in 2017, according to the 41st Annual Global End of the Year Survey conducted by Gallup International Association.

Vietnamese revelers ring in the New Year 2018 on New Year’s Eve on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in downtown HCMC. Vietnam is among the world’s 10 happiest countries in 2017 

The country is fifth in the happiness index after Fiji, Colombia, the Philippines and Mexico. The survey was carried out from October to December last year based on interviews of more than 50,000 people ranging from 55 countries and territories around the globe. On average, a representative sample of 1,000 men and women in each country were interviewed either one-on-one or online.

When it comes to economic prospects, more than 61% of Vietnamese respondents said 2018 would be a year of economic prosperity while 32% gave no prediction and only 6% showed their pessimism about the economy.

The outlook is aligned with positive predictions by economists for Vietnam’s economy in 2018 when the country last year recorded higher-than-expected economic growth of 6.81%, the highest since 2011. The Government’s original economic growth target was 6.7%.

Regarding their hopes for 2018, 58% of Vietnamese respondents expressed high hopes for this year while 8% guessed this year would be bleak or worse and the rest thought this year would be the same as in 2017. 

Vietnam ranked first in the Asian region and fifth in the world in the 2016 Happy Planet Index released by the UK-based New Economics Foundation.

SGT