Vietnam moves up the World Happiness Report 2025 rankings
The 2025 World Happiness Report is a joint effort by some of the world’s leading experts and researchers in well-being science.
THE HANOI TIMES — Vietnam advanced eight places to rank 46th out of 147 countries and territories in the 2025 World Happiness Report, and the second highest in Southeast Asia.
The results were from the 13th edition of the annual report, which is released to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20.
A traditional family in Hanoi. Photo: Viet Dung/Kinh te & Do thi Newspaper
Vietnam is one of 19 countries to move up in this year's report.
Over the past five years, the country has jumped nearly 40 places from 83rd in 2020. Its average ranking in the World Happiness Report was 75.
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, based on data from the Gallup World Poll, which measures individuals' self-rated life evaluations, averaged over three years from 2022 to 2024. This year's report is a collaborative effort by some of the world's leading experts and researchers in the field of happiness science.
The survey asked respondents to rate their overall lives, and the rankings were based on those ratings. The report then considered six main factors to explain the rankings: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (the size and performance of the economy), social support (having someone to count on in times of need), healthy life expectancy (which includes physical and mental health in addition to life expectancy), freedom to make life choices (human rights), generosity (a marker of positive community involvement), and perceptions of corruption.
While the happiness ranking is based on respondents' subjective assessments of their quality of life, the six variables can help provide deeper insight and explain differences between countries, according to the report.
“This year’s report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth. It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected,” said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of the Wellbeing Research Center at Oxford University and editor of the 2025 World Happiness Report.
