KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 ― Malaysia climbed to 35th in an annual global happiness survey and is now just one spot behind Singapore.

In the World Happiness Report 2018 released yesterday, Malaysia also came ahead of neighbours Thailand (46), the Philippines (71), Vietnam (95), Indonesia (96), Laos (110), Cambodia (120) and Myanmar (130).

Brunei, which is also a member of the Asean, was not included in the survey or any of its previous editions.

Malaysia was 42nd of 155 in last year’s survey and behind Thailand.

Malaysia was 51st in the survey's first edition in 2012, fell respectively to 56th and 61st in 2013 and 2015, before reversing the trend to climb to 47th and 42nd in the 2016 and 2017 report, again respectively.

Singapore has always held the top spot within the Asean region, ranking 33rd in 2012, before improving to 30th, 24th and 22nd in 2013, 2015 and 2016, respectively, but fell to 26th in 2017.

In the past surveys, Thailand and Malaysia had always taken the second spot and third spot in the Asean region, except for the 2012 edition when Malaysia ranked above Thailand (52).

The World Happiness Report 2018 is the sixth report released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, based on polls where people are asked to rate the quality of their current lives.

The top 10 happiest countries in the world were unchanged from last year, with a reshuffling in order, with Finland displacing Norway for the first spot, followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.

The top 10 unhappiest countries in the 2018 global report are in descending order, Malawi, Haiti, Liberia, Syria, Rwanda, Yemen, Tanzania, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Burundi.