DOSM: M’sians happy overall, women more than men
PETALING JAYA: Young Malaysian women are happier than their male counterparts, according to the Malaysia Happiness Index (MHI) 2024 released by the Statistics Department of Malaysia (DOSM).
Demographically, females recorded a score of 7.62, slightly higher than males at 7.57.
“The age group between 15 and 19 emerged as the happiest cohort,” the department said in a statement yesterday.
Overall, Malaysians were categorised as happy with a national score of 7.60.
The MHI 2024, derived from the Malaysia Happiness Survey, measures happiness across four dimensions – physical, social, emotional and spiritual.
It is built on 94 indicators grouped into 13 components, making it one of the most comprehensive tools for assessing quality of life in the country.
“This outcome marks a significant milestone in assessing national social well-being, in line with Malaysia’s inclusive, people-driven and evidence-based development aspirations,” DOSM said.
The index is scored on a scale of 0 to 10: scores of 0-2 represent “very unhappy”, 2-4 “unhappy”, 4-6 “moderately happy”, 6-8 “happy”, and 8-10 “very happy”.
The survey showed minimal disparity between urban and rural areas, with urban dwellers scoring 7.61 and rural residents 7.56.
By component, religion and spirituality (8.69) and family (8.64) were the strongest contributors to national happiness.
Other positive contributors included time use (7.82), education (7.81), health (7.79), housing and environment (7.67), and working life (7.58).
Income (6.40) and culture (6.22) scored the lowest, though both still fell within the “happy” range.
For the first time, the MHI was published in detail at both state and administrative district levels to provide a more localised view.
At the state level, Terengganu (8.64), Johor (8.08) and Negri Sembilan (8.01) were classified as “very happy”. Meanwhile, Selangor (7.21), Penang (7.19) and Labuan (7.00) recorded the lowest scores.
At the district level, 36 areas were classified as very happy, with scores ranging from 8.02 to 9.83.
Kluang topped the list with 9.83, followed by Raub (9.52) and Mersing (9.50).
Districts with the lowest scores included Kuala Nerus (9.03), Kunak (8.97) and Kemaman (8.79).
