Taiwanese Happiness  

                    
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★ 
<The United Daily>, 8-26-2019:  <名人堂> 楊志良: "The gap between the poor and the rich became largest ever !"

★  <中國時報 The China Times>, editorial opinion, 10-4-2019:  The productivity of those consumer goods (lifestyle) industries (such as general business, wholesales, retail, food, logistics/distribution, cosmetology & hair salon, early childhood care, hotel, etc industries with low salary and dark future ) most Taiwanese people work on is pretty low in general; in contrast, the new rich in Computer and  electronics industries lead a great life,this leads to an unstable society。

★  <The United Daily>, <CTS> news, 2-20-2019

pic.: Taiwanese workers stuck at the same real salaries (wages) as 17 years ago for inflation of all prices/ UDN 2-20-2019
 PS: CTS news 2-20-2019: Nearly 90% Taiwanese workers complained about their low salaries.  

★  <自由時報 The Liberty Times>, summer 2019

        young worker with low pay , yearly growth NT400-600 (2018: aged 20-24 , NT27783, 2017: NT26904, 2012: 23737)

 

★  <The United Daily>, headline news, 6-10-2019

       The number of elderly citizens being abused is 300% larger than that 10 years ago, a horrible find-out !   The number is just a tip of a big iceberg !   Most of those aged people suffering domestic violence chose not to speak out ...

 

《United Daily 》Taiwan,  8-26-2019,  headline news   "can't afford buying a house, salary remains, no solutions yet  since 1989"

 

★  <聯合報 The United Daily>, 10-25-2019: Kaohsiung city mayor (韓國瑜): People of four classes (farmers, fishermen, plebs, labor-men) lead a good life, the whole Taiwan will be happy (四種人 農勞工庶民過好  全台快樂)

 

★  UDN group's Economic Daily (經濟日報) survey of 2019 shows at 11-20-2019 that <Happiness Index> of Taiwanese  ―   No.1 Taipei, No.2 Hsin-Chu, No.3 Tao-yuan, No.4 TaiNan.

★  <The New York Times>, 2-27-2018

★     Taiwanese are "in a near panic" over shortage of tissue paper, which highlights high price sensitivity, Taiwanese wages stagnated for years, but housing prices went up. (brief) 

《The Economist Intelligence Unit》, UK
     
Taipei ranks No. 58 in the 2018 survey "The world's most livable cities".  
       "The 2017 global least and most stressful cities rankings" shows Taiwan's "gender equality" No.113, "race equality" No. 78, "green space" No. 115, "social security" No.140,  "physical health" No.15, "mental health" No. 96, "air pollution" No. 92, "noise pollution" No.110,  "Density", No. 127, "public transport" No.2,  "Debt per Capita" No. 43, etc.  ref to
https://www.zipjet.co.uk/2017-stressful-cities-ranking,《聯合報》, 10-3-2018

★  <The United Daily>, 2-8/9-2018, <Apple Daily>, 2-9-2018

         Taiwan government (including local gov.) has not well taken its fundamental responsibility of protecting the safety of people's life and property -

       ● why are there so many tall buildings located on the fault-zone?

       ● why are poor architectures everywhere on bad geologic grounds ?

       ● why are those shit-hole politicians doing nothing and ignoring urban renewal so as to risk millions of old houses and human beings ?? 

★  《 Apple Daily 蘋果日報》opinion, , 3-16-2018,  <World Happiness Report>, 3-14-2018   http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/  (UN)

        ADN opinion : " How come can Taiwan be a country of happiness ?"  (台灣怎麼會是快樂國度?), "but that  <World Happiness Report> is only half-blind,  because of its 6 key variables to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity."

           World Happiness Report  : Taiwan ranks No. 26 country of happiness,   No. 38 immigration country...

★  <The China Times>, 4-7-2017

       39.5% Taiwanese people felt blue (Melancholy)1-2 days per week,    39.2 1- days,  21.3% felt blue 3-7 days per week  ;  Only16.8% won't hide their disease  / 董氏基金會研究.

★ 《Apple Daily》Taiwan,  4-18-2017   headline news

        It's the hardest time in Taiwan's history to buy a house... 40% monthly salary for loan/mortgage.

The Liberty Times》Taiwan, 2-24-2017  

        Keep eating nothing and drinking nothing for 33+ years to buy a new house in Taipei !    Taipei's  Ratio of House Price to Income  is 33.3 times, New Taipei city is 20.25.

★  tv.ifeng凤凰视频

<United Daily news 聯合報>,《The Liberty Times》Taiwan, 2-25-2017

      Taiwanese employee's real wages (average monthly) of last year is lower than that of 16 years ago.   The average number of  the real wages of about 70% employee is less than NT40000, 36.72% is less than NT30000.  The youth's low salary is a serious problem, jobless rate is still high.  

<United Daily news聯合報>, head page, 12-10-2016

      The word of 2016 selected is "" ("hardship", "pain").  ps: The word of 2008 till now respectively is : 2008「亂」(mess)、2009「盼」(long for)、2010「淡」(thin; pale)、2011「讚」(good)、2012「憂」(worry)、2013「假」(fake)、2014「黑」(black) and 2015「換」(change).   http://udn.com/news/story/1/2158738

<CTS HD>, 5-23-2016 1:25pm, "華視新聞雜誌"
 
 
    17 million Taiwanese people ( totally 23 million population) live in "potential danger" (潛在危險) houses, according to <遠見>study, Taiwanese people gave a "failure" score (53.5) on "living safety".

<the Liberty Times自由時報>, 5-4-2016
     "
Misery!  the starting monthly salary (NT27,655, about USD900) of college students is lower than that (NT28,016 about USD900+) of 16 years ago", according to governmental statistics.

<the Liberty Times自由時報>, 5-4-2016

A survey found Taiwanese mother's "happiness index" is "D" score (68) for economic burden, supports from partner and relatives are not enough, etc.

<United Daily news 聯合報>, 3-28-2016  Government becomes the exploiter!   

UDN poll found 89% Taiwanese agree the gap/disparity between rich and poor is serious, only 7% disagree.  63% Taiwanese agree social injustice/inequality.  The youth are confused where the opportunity is, the labor groups scream social injustice is from bad to worse...    

<United Daily news>, 4-28-2016 
J.P. Morgan survey found Taiwanese " Happiness Index after retirement" is an almost "Failure" score.

 

CTV , 3-14-2016  21:29,  China Times, 4-28-2015

One Taiwanese got Karoshi (died from overwork) per 10 days in average.  Taiwan is an island of slave workers - Taiwanese salary low, long working hours ranks world No. 3, estimate Taiwanese work 3 months more than Germany per year...

<Lloyd's >, 9-17-2015

 Lloyd's City Risk Index 2015-2025 analyses the potential impact on the economic output (GDP risk) of 301 of the world's major cities, Taipei was ranked world No.1 - within the next 10 years, Taipei is estimated to loss 45% of GDP, about USD18120 billion, 44.78% of them is for typhoons, 16.38% earthquakes, 15.77% (global) financial markets are volatile .  


<the Liberty Times>, 8-4-2015

Keep eating and drinking nothing for 16+ years to buy a house in Taipei !

5 major cities' (Taipei, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiiung ) the Ratio of House Price to Income and house load affordability rate (房貸負擔率) all reach new high since Taiwan's first-time survey being conducted in 2002.  Besides, Taiwanese payroll (compensation level薪資) retreated, so it's even harder (higher misery index) for citizens to buy a house.

Ratio of House Price to Income (times) and house load affordability rate (%) of major cities in Qtr.1, 2015 : Taipei 16.16, 68.63,  New Taipei City 12.78, 55.27, Taoyuan 7.17, 30.44, TaiChung 8.53,36.22 ,TaiNan 6.69, 28.42, Kaohsiung 7.88, 33.46, all these are higher than the number published in 5-12-2015.
 

Asian City  the Ratio of House Price to Income
Hong Kong(Chn) 17
Taipei (Taiwan) 16.16
New Taipei City (Taiwan) 13.02
Tokyo(Japan) 11.79
Seoul首爾(Korea) 7.85
source: annual Demographia International Housing Affordability


★  UBS, Swiss,     9-18-2015

     In UBS's "most expensive cities" report, Taipei was ranked No. 26. -  but No. 42 in the report of last time.

<the Liberty Times自由時報>, 8-5-2015

       According to latest survey, Taiwanese fathers work so hard that 76% of them prefer escaping from working field back home for a rest.  Some other findings include, in average 2.4 days for overtime-working per week,  43% of them don't have any pocket  money to spend,  each week only 2.9 days they can have dinner together with their children.


The China Times, 10-12-2015

        Taipei's High house price led to extremely low (超低) fertility rate in Taiwan.


The China Times, 9-21-2015

        Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C.  published rankings of OECD (2015), Taiwan's environmental quality was ranked No.35 within 37 countries, Taiwan's air pollution index, particulate matter - PM10 being up to 41 ug/m3, already was ranked No. 36 for consecutively 2 years.   Besides, a drinking water survey conducted by Taiwan's government last year found 57.2% of Taiwanese complained their water smelling stinky, or/and like liquid-medicine, 54.1% complained water containing precipitate, impurity and something else, 29.1% complained bad taste,  22.3% complained their water with color or turbidity,  5.6% don't even trust water quality.

United Daily News, 12-9-2015 headline

      GermanWatch global climate change performance index published a comparison of the 58 top CO2 emitting nations, Taiwan was ranked 52th among 58 in the list.

Taipei Times, 3-20-2015

         Fulbright foreign academic : Taiwanese are depressed ...

         At the Fulbright Association's 37th Annual Conference in Taipei, a foreign academic asked Taiwan president Ma's opinion on what was causing the men (Chinese "悶" means "depressed" and "unhappy", the academic said it "a feeling of stagnation, or having no way forward") which many Taiwanese said they were feeling.   Ma's remarks ( he did not know of "such a widespread phenomenon”and so on) provoked criticism: Taiwanese government policies continue to favor large corporations, while workers' wages have regressed to the same level as 1999, people have evidently had enough, which led to last year's mass protests and the storming of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.   (brief of report)

<the Liberty Times自由時報>, 12-7-2015

      Taiwanese government policy, NT22000 monthly salary's Anchoring Effect, resulted in youth income retreated about 18 years -  average salary of youth aged less than 39 is bit less than that of youth around 1999.


 

Liberty Times, 3-23-2015

Who depressed Taiwanese?  (台灣的悶是誰造成的?)

Taiwan's economy dependency (policy inclination) on communist China,  domestic industrial inanition/ hollowing-out, salary going back, losing working opportunity, commodity prices having gone up (inflation of prices), huge state government debt, people can not afford buying house, can not afford having marriage and children,  young generation becoming poor people, disparity between rich and poor became larger ...   http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/865349   (brief)

United Daily News, 3-21-2015

      We're all really depressed and unhappy ! (誰很悶?我們真的都很悶 ! )

        (1) Can't afford housing by our salary (2) Lousy administrative efficiency and legislative efficiency (3) Lousy quality of entertainment (4) Unclear nation's positioning (5) Politicians of both sides dish the dirt about each other (6) Bad prosecutors and judiciary system, too many vultures and not-real-world judges/bad prosecutors ... (7) Food scandals    
              by
Chang 張瑞雄/台北商業大學校長 http://udn.com/news/story/7339/779404-%E8%AA%B0%E5%BE%88%E6%82%B6%EF%BC%9F%E6%88%91%E5%80%91%E7%9C%9F%E7%9A%84%E9%83%BD%E5%BE%88%E6%82%B6 (brief )


United Daily News, 4-25-2015  Eat & drink nothing, See & hear no evil, Taiwanese feel happy this way?
      
(不吃不喝、不看不聽 台灣人這樣快樂an editorial critique questioning & responding to TW's ranking no. 38 in UN survey on happiness / critic 孫亦文

        ... Only if you had nothing breakfast containing animal drugs more than maximal residue allowed or virus/germs (Escherichia coli),  tea drink with over-limited-of-detection pesticide,  mineral water made by (under)ground-water, Illegal import of banned (suspiciously polluted) food products from Japan... moreover, if you don't care politics, don't watch TV news ... most important of all, if you win a lottery, that will be the happiest thing ! Who said Taiwanese are unhappy?   details pls. ref. to  http://udn.com/news/story/7339/861333-%E4%B8%8D%E5%90%83%E4%B8%8D%E5%96%9D%E3%80%81%E4%B8%8D%E7%9C%8B%E4%B8%8D%E8%81%BD-%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E4%BA%BA%E9%80%99%E6%A8%A3%E5%BF%AB%E6%A8%82%EF%BC%9F


 Liberty Times, 4-1-2015

     According to a survey conducted by John Tung Foundation (董氏基金會), every 1 out of 4 or 5 university students are obviously depressed (PS: melancholia).


United Daily News,  June 5, 2014  (Living edition A6)
        1/3 Taiwanese feel unhappy according to a local survey.   (MD suggests having Vitamin C, fruits/vegetables to help emotional stability)
(brief )

CTV(<中視>), 4-3-2015  evening news, 19:22pm

      A survey concerning Happiness found that 30% Taiwanese children only have less than 3 days per week to eating together with their parents, nearly 25% children are not satisfied at current situation... ("不滿現狀").

United Daily News, 5-22-2015

        According to a survey conducted by John Tung Foundation (董氏基金會), about every 1 out of 2 Taiwanese women is physically unhappy (身體不快樂) ...

The China Times, 8-3-2014

       Taiwan's Happiness Index Top, Taiwanese said "No Way !"

       According to Taiwanese Happiness Index published by Taiwan's government, Taiwan ranked the 18th in 37 countries joining the poll. 

       This report provoked Taiwanese people criticisms: "Is it possible ? happiness? No way !" (「怎麼可能幸福?」), "Totally phony survey" (根本是「編來被罵的」).   http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20140830000346-260102   (brief )


★ 
Apple Daily , 9-4-2014「台灣女性性生活滿意度調查」), about 80% unmarried female are not satisfied about their sexual life, nearly 40% Taiwanese women are not satisfied their sexual life. 


★ 
CNA Central News Agency, Taiwan (<中央社>  March 8, 2012

           For this national Women's Day,  DPP legislative members in a press conference listed Taiwan's 5 problems leading to Taiwanese women's unhappiness ―  reduced income, food (birds-flu chickens, Paylean beef, etc) may get illness, unequal pay for female ( salary 17.6% less for same work by the male), workplace not comfortable (  female victims accounted for 97.15% of all sexual harassment cases ) , difficult to get promotion ( women only 1/4 of high-end civil servants/officials  ).


★ 
Satisfaction with Life Index

         Satisfaction Index  -  International ranking 2006 : Taiwan No.68;
         Singapore No. 53,    Hong Kong No. 63,     China No. 82;
         top 3 nations are Denmark, Swiss, Austria,  The US No. 23.

         The Satisfaction with Life Index was created by Adrian G. White, an analytic social psychologist at the University of Leicester, using data from a metastudy. It is an attempt to show life satisfaction in different nations.

         In this calculation, subjective well being correlates most strongly with health (.7), wealth (.6), and access to basic education

         This is an example of directly measuring happiness—asking people how happy they are—as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success such as GDP or GNP. Some studies suggest that happiness can be measured effectively. 
         This Index, however, is not solely based on directly asking "how people feel", but also on its social and economic development

  

Happy Planet Index (HPI) ―  New Economics Foundation (NEF)

        Taiwan ranks world No. 84, score 43.41 , China ranks No. 31, score 55.99 in 2006

        The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in July 2006. The index is weighted to give progressively higher scores to nations with lower ecological footprints.

★  The World Happiness Report   ―    the United Nations

         In 2013, Taiwan ranks the 42th (score 6.221), South Korea ranks 41th (6.267), Singapore 30th (6.546), US 17th (7.082);

         Denmark, Norway, Swiss, Holland, Sweden are top 5,    China is not included in the list.

         The World Happiness Report is a measure of happiness published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The report is edited by Professor John F. Helliwell, of the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Lord Richard Layard, Director of the Well-Being Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance; and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Director of the SDSN, and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General...

Apple Daily (<蘋果日報>) ,  11-29-2012   "Taiwan is not happy !"   (Politics edition, by 余艾苔)

    All index scores of Taiwanese happiness fell, according to the 4th QTR survey conducted by <遠見>, in that paper, most Taiwanese people are not happy, and pessimistic about our society...

China Post, 4-6-2012

       According to the World Happiness Report conducted by the Earth Institute (EI) of Columbia University, entrusted by the United Nations General Assembly, Taiwan ranks 46th happiest country in the world.

         EI revealed that happiness could not simply be achieved by acquiring monetary wealth. Instead, at a national level, happiness — or well-being (幸福) — is built on an array of factors, including political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption.   On the individual level, having strong mental and physical health, trustworthy relationships, job security, and stable families are all crucial factors that contribute to personal happiness.    http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2012/04/06/336929/Taiwan-ranks.htm

★  2011 DPP opinion polls  <the Liberty Times>, Taiwan, May 8, 2011  ( Mother's Day )

   54.9% female (age 20-49) : Taiwanese mother are not happy.
  
details
    (1) Taiwanese mother "kind (bit) unhappy" : 34.5%
    (2) "very unhappy": 20.4%
    (3) "kind (bit) happy" : 33.9%
    (4) "very happy" : 7.4%
    (5) Not willing to have baby at present :
87.3%  ―  reasons include having enough kid(s), economic burden,  not married yet,  cannot have baby for age or health etc,  not willing to give birth, living environment not good ...(brief )

★   ECA int'l  "the best place to reside"  ―  Not Taipei ranked behind !

     According to 2009 ECA International "the best place to reside",  Taipei ranked world No. 57,  Singapore ranked world No.1 ,  Asia's No. 2 and 3, Hong Kong, Tokyo, both ranked world No. 15.
 
       
Taipei ranked No.55 in 2010, Singapore still ranked world No. 1.

Taipei Times, 8-31-2013

       Index shows Taiwanese are moderately happy

         People in Taiwan enjoy a “moderate level” of happiness compared with their peers in nations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the national happiness index released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) .  The results also showed Taiwan's material living conditions are better than its quality of life.


★ 
Apple Daily News, editorial ,  Sept. 23, 2011

        "National Sexual Prison "(「國立性煉獄」) :  What a shame on Taiwanese government ! 
 
        So many sexual harassment crimes , and sexual assault cases in Taiwan, ......  far more than the number reported by media, we can say Taiwan has already became a society hostile to the female Shame on all Taiwanese, particularly, shame on Taiwanese government......(brief )


★ 
2011  USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, April 8, 2011

       Violence against women, including rape and domestic violence, remained a serious problem.
      (estimated that the total number of rape, spousal rape was 10 times the number reported to the police,


USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2.27.2014

       Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and domestic violence. Because victims were socially stigmatized, many did not report the crime, and the Ministry of Interior estimated that the total number of sexual assaults was 10 times the number reported to police.


★  French Reporters Sans Frontieres and US. Freedom House, 2014
    
 Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres>: Taiwan’s ranking for press freedom fell three notches from last year.  Freedom House: Taiwan's media freedom declines again (BBC: declines for consecutive 3 years).

 

 Taiwan's poll, 2012 ~2013

According to 2013 survey (Dec. 10, 2013) conducted by The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD ) & SHU that shows a "F" score (rating 2.7/5.0 points) on overall human rights status ―  in decline for a third consecutive year (judiciary, fair trials. non-corruption, communication privacy, health rights... all fail).  According to 2012 survey (Dec. 4, 2012) by the Taipei-based Chinese Association for Human Rights, 43.4% of the respondents rated Taiwan's overall performance in human rights protection this year as either “bad” or “very bad” , only 38 percent of Taiwanese held positive views on Taiwan's human rights of this year, which is far worse than 57 percent of last year... <Apple daily News> comments Taiwan's freedom of speech is in retreat, and scholars worry about Taiwan's democracy doesn't work well, <Taiwan News> uses the headline "Taiwan's human rights get thumbs-down in poll!"...

★   Foreign Policy, 2015      Taiwan Not democratic!

           In <Foreign Policy>, Taipei's new mayor Ko expressed "Does Taiwan have democracy? Real democracy means politics belongs to the people. Taiwanese politics belongs to corporations and is controlled by political parties."


★ 
Common Wealth Magazine,  6-29-2012     Scholar: It's a "Pass" grade.

         Taiwan Happiness Index 65.94 - A Middling Score on Happiness

   Closer analysis of the five main metrics comprising the index shows that Taiwanese feel happiest about "Family Life," which accounted for 16.65 points of the overall happiness score. That was followed, in descending order, by "Physical and Mental Health" (16.13 points), "Social Relations" (13.47 points) and "Employment Situation" (12.74 points), with the lowest score being "Political and Economic Climate" (6.95 points).

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