Economic success and living longer go hand in hand. Both Scandinavian and East Asian countries, especially Japan and Singapore, are blessed with both. But when it comes to measures of happiness, Scandinavian countries lead the world, according to the United Nations' World Happiness Report 2018.
Social inclusion, a key ingredient of happiness, seems to lag in the Asian countries that made a dash for economic growth decades ago — South Korea and Singapore, and Japan even before that, and in the more recent sprinters, China and India.
Asia is arguably the most diverse region in the world and country differences in incomes, history and institutions limit generalizations. A defining feature is that the region, especially East Asia, saw much faster income growth and poverty reduction than any other part of the world in recent decades.