IT IS disturbing to read that Singapore ranked 49th in the Happy Planet Index 2.0 survey conducted by the New Economics Foundation ('Costa Ricans the 'happiest worldwide'', Monday).

This is even though it was ranked fourth highest per capita income in the world by the International Monetary Fund last year, and third by the World Bank in 2007.

By all counts, we are a materially wealthy nation, so why are Singaporeans not happy with their lot? Singaporeans have access to the best of everything, yet they seem to indicate that they are not happy.

I wonder if this is why we often see grim faces on buses and the MRT. Are Singaporeans stressed out? Do they yearn for more, without finding it? Why are we, as a nation, not as happy as our poorer neighbours like Vietnam, for example, which ranked highest in Asia? Does our education system stress material success over achieving internal peace and happiness?

Curiously, Vietnam, with less material success than Singapore, ranked fifth in the index, and Costa Rica topped the survey.

At the same time, the wealthy and technologically advanced nations we like to emulate, such as the United States and Britain, ranked 114th and 74th respectively, even worse than Singapore. This clearly shows that material success does not guarantee happiness.

It is time that we made an effort to re-establish our priorities, learn to relax, appreciate what we have, smile, and be happy.

Anil Bhatia

IT IS disturbing to read that Singapore ranked 49th in the Happy Planet Index 2.0 survey conducted by the New Economics Foundation ('Costa Ricans the 'happiest worldwide', Monday).

This is even though it was ranked fourth highest per capita income in the world by the International Monetary Fund last year, and third by the World Bank in 2007.

By all counts, we are a materially wealthy nation, so why are Singaporeans not happy with their lot? Singaporeans have access to the best of everything, yet they seem to indicate that they are not happy.

I wonder if this is why we often see grim faces on buses and the MRT. Are Singaporeans stressed out? Do they yearn for more, without finding it? Why are we, as a nation, not as happy as our poorer neighbours like Vietnam, for example, which ranked highest in Asia? Does our education system stress material success over achieving internal peace and happiness?

Curiously, Vietnam, with less material success than Singapore, ranked fifth in the index, and Costa Rica topped the survey.

At the same time, the wealthy and technologically advanced nations we like to emulate, such as the United States and Britain, ranked 114th and 74th respectively, even worse than Singapore. This clearly shows that material success does not guarantee happiness.

It is time that we made an effort to re-establish our priorities, learn to relax, appreciate what we have, smile, and be happy.

Anil Bhatia