All That Money Cannot Buy: Patterns of Satisfaction in Malaysia’s Happiness Index

Malaysia has joined the company of countries which have attempted to survey levels of happiness among their citizens. The so-called Malaysia Happiness Index provides a reality check and paints a rather sanguine picture. It appears that investing in aspects such as health, family life, education and religiosity yields dividends.

The study of happiness, or subjective well-being, is an established social science field that simply, and methodically, asks people how happy they are with things that matter, like their leisure time, community ties, and emotional wellness. The World Happiness Report generates a happiness index for 140 countries from a simplified set of survey questions and other basic data.

The Malaysia Happiness Index (MHI) 2024 presents findings of the second Happiness Survey, after the inaugural round in 2021. Malaysia’s attempt at surveying happiness tracks Bhutan’s. The Himalayan kingdom pioneered the mission of maximising Gross National Happiness. This tracks the progress of its Happiness Index, a composite benchmark computed from a regular survey that obtains data on well-being and subjective self-evaluations of happiness.

Malaysia’s Happiness Index primarily holds up a mirror to society — it is not a compass for prescribing policies. But Malaysia can take to heart the importance of continually supporting religious space and family life, and delivering on education and health.

Last month, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) published media releases which garnered fleeting news reports. Intriguingly, the country’s leadership seems disinterested in these reports. The obscurity of the MHI is also unfortunate because the public has missed out on some interesting insights.

The MHI comprises 13 equally-weighted components (listed in Figure 1). Survey respondents evaluate their level of happiness in aspects of personal well-being, work and social life, and living conditions. These are scaled between 0 and 10: 0-2 points for “very unhappy”; 2-4 “unhappy”; 4-6 “moderately happy”; 6-8 “happy”; and 8-10 “very happy”. The 2024 rendition obtained a 42,000-strong nationally representative sample. Four findings deserve attention. First, the MHI increased from 2021 to 2024, with the total score rising from 6.48 to 7.60 (Figure 1). The Covid-19 pandemic probably accounts for the low starting bar. Malaysia had entered the recovery stage during the survey’s September-November 2021 sampling period, but the travails of the preceding years likely still depressed the national mood.

Religion and Education Come Up Tops

Figure 1. Malaysia Happiness Index, by Component, 2021→2024

Second, the religion/spirituality and family components registered markedly higher scores, rising above 8.5 in 2024 whereas the other components hovered below 8.0. Expectedly, Malaysians highly value religious and family life. It should be noted that the results reflect respondents’ personal experiences: the survey asked them to assess their religious practice and family relationships, not public provisions or institutions.

Malaysians are happier with their education access and health conditions than with most other components, but score lower on emotional wellness, where scores are derived from responses about the intensity of positive and negative feelings. Interestingly, income satisfaction ranks second lowest — and grew marginally between 2021 and 2024.

Third, variations across states provide further hints on the state of happiness and well-being in Malaysia. The index is disaggregated by various categories, notably gender, education, and geography. Although media reports have headlined how women’s happiness (7.62) scores are higher than men’s (7.57), the gap is negligible. However, differences and similarities between states are significant and might be of interest to the coalitions governing them. There is one clear frontrunner in the happiness charts: Terengganu registers the highest overall happiness score in both 2021 and 2024 (Figure 2), and almost all components in 2024 (Figures 3 and 4). Johor and Melaka fare quite well, while Kelantan, Selangor and Penang are at the lower end.

Terengganu At the Front

Figure 2. Malaysia Happiness Index of Selected States, 2021→2024

The survey, designed for gauging happiness across various facets, does not gather much explanatory data to tell us why the patterns emerge. One could, however, raise a few plausible points. Terengganu performs much better than its East Coast neighbour Kelantan. This suggests that the differences stem from factors beyond local culture or religiosity of the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) governments of both states. Terengganu seems to strike a propitious balance of personal and socioeconomic well-being. The lower happiness of the residents of Selangor and Penang, among the more urbanised and highest-income states, could be due to higher stress. The two states registered relatively low scores for “rest and leisure time” and “working life”. The dispersion within some components also prompt questions. Among the states shown in Figure 3, the scores for religion and family are not only high but concentrated in a narrower band (8.0–9.5). Likewise, emotional well-being levels converge within a narrower and lower range of 6.5–7.5. One should avoid sweeping diagnoses of the emotional state of large populations, but the Happiness Survey is signalling that mental health is worth a deeper look across all the states.

Religion and Family Matter

Figure 3. Happiness Index: Selected States and Component Scores and States, 2024

Fourth, Malaysians are less happy about income than other survey components, and the gap between states is strikingly wide. Terengganu again towers above the rest, but the scores for Kelantan, Melaka, Selangor and Penang are below or barely above the “happy” threshold of 6.0 (Figure 3). Juxtaposing the happiness index against household income levels, also recently published by DOSM, it becomes apparent that higher income does not necessarily translate into higher overall happiness levels — not even higher scores on the income component of the index, which asked Malaysians to rate their satisfaction with income, affordability, and financial resources (Figure 4). One likely explanation is that higher cost of living attenuates the benefit of higher income, which might be a cause for particular concern in the Pakatan Harapan-administered states of Selangor and Penang.

When Money Cannot Buy Everything

Figure 4. Household Disposable Income and Happiness Index, All States, 2024

Malaysia’s Happiness Index primarily holds up a mirror to society — it is not a compass for prescribing policies. But Malaysia can take to heart the importance of continually supporting religious space and family life, and delivering on education and health. After all, it is on such aspects on which people build their happiness. While Malaysians derive much happiness from things that money cannot buy, they would still value having more in their wallets.

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