Land of the Vanishing Smile
The national happiness continued its post-coup slide last month, with respondents saying they were most troubled by political instability and ongoing violence in the deep South, according to Abac Poll Research Centre.
Its gross happiness index, which is compiled monthly, fell to 5.11 points last month, compared with 5.74 in November. The index ranges from one to 10 points, with 10 indicating extreme happiness and one extreme unhappiness.Last month's rating is considered "average to somewhat low", according to Noppadon Kannika, director of the research centre. The gloomiest region was the South, where the index dipped to 4.99, while the brightest was the North, at 5.20. The Northeast and Central regions had readings of 5.08 and 5.15 points respectively. Respondents said admiration of His Majesty the King and the royal family gave them the most happiness, at 7.19, while good physical health ranked second at seven points. National unity came in at 6.26, followed by good mental health at 6.25, the sufficiency economy at 5.99, family love at 5.72 and a good job at 5.59. Violence in the South caused the most unhappiness, 2.72, followed by poor infrastructure, 3.51, and the failings of politicians and officials, which was rated 3.68. Other factors causing unhappiness were globalisation (3.77), social and legal injustice (4.49), poor management of the environment (4.74), and substandard education (4.78). Noppadon said supporters of the ousted government were less happy than those supporting the military-backed administration. The survey found people were unhappy with the performance of police as well. The index is based on responses from 4,363 people in 22 provinces collected between April 20 and last Saturday.
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