Fiji tops happy list out of 64 countries, including Papua New Guinea

Dawn Gibson

Fiji Times Online

 Saturday, January 03, 2015

A 2014 HAPPINESS poll conducted jointly by WIN/Gallup International and Tebbutt Research this year has placed Fiji at the top of its tally, ahead of 64 other countries polled.

The survey took into account the views and beliefs of 64,002 people from 65 countries globally, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
It found Fiji to be the number one country for happiness at 93 per cent.
It detailed that 82 per cent of people reported saying that 2015 would be a better year than 2014, 68 per cent said 2015 would be a year of economic prosperity in Fiji and that if there was a war involving Fiji, 94 per cent of people surveyed said they would be willing to fight for their country.
The Fiji survey was conducted by Tebbutt Research in December 2014 with a sample of n=1000 people aged 18 years and over nationally.
"It is amazing to see that Fiji still leads the happiness index — it is true that Fiji is where happiness finds you. Fiji is outstanding when compared to global countries in terms of its optimism and confidence for the future," said Tebbutt Research principal Caz Tebbutt following the results.
Tourism Fiji shared similar sentiments to Ms Tebbutt, saying that the positivity of such a ranking was great news.
"Being ranked as the happiest country in the world portrays Fiji in a very positive light, especially in light of the many abysmal events (natural disasters, freak accidents and political upheavals) which have given rise to uncertainty for travellers to Fiji," said the company's global public relations manager, Patricia Mallam.
"It's important to acknowledge that safety and hospitality play a key role in determining the final decision of where to go and what to do with one's leisure time.
"So, if a destination has been ranked by credible independent surveyors (WIN/Global Surveyors) as one of the happiest, it would speak volumes of the nature of the people in the host country."