Palace welcomes int’l poll result making PH 3rd happiest country

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed the results of a survey placing the Philippines as the third happiest country in the world.

“We enter the new year with the good news that the Philippines is the third happiest country in the world, the fifth most optimistic about the country’s economic prosperity, and the ninth most optimistic about the prospects for 2018,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

“We Filipinos are known as a happy, resilient people. We even manage to smile amid difficulties. It is therefore not surprising that we rank high in the global happiness index,” he added.

American polling firm Gallup International ranked the Philippines third in the happiest countries list in its 41st annual global yearend poll, next to Fiji and Colombia.

The Philippines’ net happiness score posted a five-point increase from 79 in 2016 to 84 in 2017, retaining its rank from last year.

The survey also placed the country as the fifth most optimistic about the country’s economic prospects and the ninth most hopeful for 2018 prospects.

READ: PH ranks 3rd among happiest countries in the world

Roque said that such optimism could be attributed to “the palpable change our people have felt under the leadership” of President Rodrigo Duterte, citing the country’s fast-growing economic growth, as well as the record-high stock trading and the record-breaking investments.

“Our people have, indeed, appreciated these changes as reflected in the survey numbers. The challenge, therefore, is for us in the government to sustain the pace and momentum of our economic growth and bring it to the greatest number of our people,” Roque said. /jpv