- Taiwan has been named as the happiest nation in the World Happiness Report for 2025.
- The island country scored highly in terms of perceived and actual goodness.
- Taiwan offers beautiful national parks and hot springs as well as a unique street food culture.
Taiwan According to a new report, the nation of East Asia that is the happiest has been named as Japan. Gallup’s World Happiness Report 2025. The island nation placed 27th worldwide and outperformed other countries, including JapanSouth Korea and China.
This year’s report analyzed 147 countries. Taiwan was ranked 31st in 2024. This year, it has surpassed that position. Singapore As the happiest nation in East Asia. Finland—for the eighth consecutive time in a row—ranked as the happiest country in the world overall.
Gallup gathered self-assessments of more than 100,000 participants from around the world for its report. The polling organization took six factors into consideration for its analysis. These included healthy life expectations, GDP per person, the feeling of someone you can count on, average frequency of donation, feeling like you have someone who is there to support, freedom in making important decisions, and perceptions about corruption.
One of the standout findings of this year’s report is that much of our sense of well-being depends on our perception of others’ benevolence—it’s a stronger predictor of happiness than actual or expected harms. Taiwan scores highly in perceived and actual benevolence.
“… “When society is more charitable, those people who are the least happy are the ones who benefit most,” said a Gallup study shared with Travel + Leisure stated. “As a consequence, happiness is more evenly distributed in countries where there are higher levels expected of benevolence.”
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Taiwan’s colorful history, vibrant street-food culture and robust national parks (including the Yangmingshan National Park) are what make it so popular. Taipei is the capital of Taiwan and known for its night market, skyscrapers and attractions such as the National Palace Museum which houses one of the largest collections of Chinese artwork in the world. Tainan – Taiwan’s Cultural Capital – is the perfect place to experience centuries-old architecture and Southern-style Taiwanese cooking, as well as a laid-back lifestyle.
Taiwanese food is, of course, a central part of the Taiwanese lifestyle. Night markets feature local cuisines like oyster omelets and braised pork. Bubble tea is also a local phenomenon. Take a day-trip from Taipei and tour the hillside tea farms of Maokong to learn more about Taiwan’s culture.
Take a relaxing dip in any of Taiwan’s natural hotsprings on your next holiday. Beitou is just outside Taipei and offers public bathhouses in Japanese style, private rooms and resorts of higher quality. Visit the small towns of Wulai and Ruisui for a more relaxed experience. You can soak in the mountains while enjoying the views.
Taiwan is a small island, but there are so many things to do and see. Thanks to Taiwan’s robust high-speed and train networks, it is easy to move around the island and see a variety of landscapes.
Singapore, Kazakhstan and Thailand are also in the top 10. Other East Asian countries include Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.
