...the Happiest Countries in the World

The World Happiness Report 2019 Is Out—Check Out The Ranking Of The Philippines

Cosmopolitan Philippines
24 March 2019

In the latest World Happiness Report (2019), the Philippines ranked 69. The results and ranking compare the happiness quotients of 156 countries. In the last report, the Philippines ranked 71st in the happiness meter, so we upped our happy score by a tiny bit.

The World Happiness Report 2019 is by Helliwell, J., Layard, R., and Sachs, J. (2019) produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. To arrive at the latest ranking, they asked respondents to value their lives on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life. And, the score of the Philippines? We got 5.63 points out of 10 points. While our ranking would still be lower than a 60 percent passing mark in a typical test, we still bested some of our neighbors, particularly the likes of Hong Kong SAR, China which came in at 76th place (5.430) and China which ranked 93rd (5.191).

Some of our favorite travel destinations ranked higher with Canada at 9th spot (7.278), the United States at 19th (6.892), France at 24th (6.592), Singapore at 34th (6.262), South Korea at 54th (5.895), and Japan at 58th (5.886). Topping the list were some of the Scandinavian countries with Finland besting all the others (again) with a 7.769 happiness score.

The World Happiness report “attempts to show how six key variables contribute to explaining the full sample of national annual average scores…. These variables are GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.”

“We do not construct our happiness measure in each country using these six factors – the scores are instead based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives,” say the experts behind the study. So, if you were to rate your happiness against similar metrics, how would you fair? Would you say that you’re truly happy?

Checkout the ranking of156 countries below:

1. Finland (7.769)
2. Denmark (7.600)
3. Norway (7.554)
4. Iceland (7.494)
5. Netherlands (7.488)
6. Switzerland (7.480)
7. Sweden (7.343)
8. New Zealand (7.307)
9. Canada (7.278)
10. Austria (7.246)
11. Australia (7.228)
12. Costa Rica (7.167)
13. Israel (7.139)
14. Luxembourg (7.090)
15. United Kingdom (7.054)
16. Ireland (7.021)
17. Germany (6.985)
18. Belgium (6.923)
19. United States (6.892)
20. Czech Republic (6.852)
21. United Arab Emirates (6.825)
22. Malta (6.726)
23. Mexico (6.595)
24. France (6.592)
25. Taiwan Province of China (6.446)
26. Chile (6.444)
27. Guatemala (6.436)
28. Saudi Arabia (6.375)
29. Qatar (6.374)
30. Spain (6.354)
31. Panama (6.321)
32. Brazil (6.300)
33. Uruguay (6.293)
34. Singapore (6.262)
35. El Salvador (6.253)
36. Italy (6.223)
37. Bahrain (6.199)
38. Slovakia (6.198)
39. Trinidad and Tobago (6.192)
40. Poland (6.182)
41. Uzbekistan (6.174)
42. Lithuania (6.149)
43. Colombia (6.125)
44. Slovenia (6.118)
45. Nicaragua (6.105)
46. Kosovo (6.100)
47. Argentina (6.086)
48. Romania (6.070)
49. Cyprus (6.046)
50. Ecuador (6.028)
51. Kuwait (6.021)
52. Thailand (6.008)
53. Latvia (5.940)
54. South Korea (5.895)
55. Estonia (5.893)
56. Jamaica (5.890)
57. Mauritius (5.888)
58. Japan (5.886)
59. Honduras (5.860)
60. Kazakhstan (5.809)
61. Bolivia (5.779)
62. Hungary (5.758)
63. Paraguay (5.743)
64. North Cyprus (5.718)
65. Peru (5.697)
66. Portugal (5.693)
67. Pakistan (5.653)
68. Russia (5.648)
69. Philippines (5.631)
70. Serbia (5.603)
71. Moldova (5.529)
72. Libya (5.525)
73. Montenegro (5.523)
74. Tajikistan (5.467)
75. Croatia (5.432)
76. Hong Kong SAR, China (5.430)
77. Dominican Republic (5.425)
78. Bosnia and Herzegovina (5.386)
79. Turkey (5.373)
80. Malaysia (5.339)
81. Belarus (5.323)
82. Greece (5.287)
83. Mongolia (5.285)
84. Macedonia (5.274)
85. Nigeria (5.265)
86. Kyrgyzstan (5.261)
87. Turkmenistan (5.247)
88. Algeria (5.211)
89. Morocco (5.208)
90. Azerbaijan (5.208)
91. Lebanon (5.197)
92. Indonesia (5.192)
93. China (5.191)
94. Vietnam (5.175)
95. Bhutan (5.082)
96. Cameroon (5.044)
97. Bulgaria (5.011)
98. Ghana (4.996)
99. Ivory Coast (4.944)
100. Nepal (4.913)
101. Jordan (4.906)
102. Benin (4.883)
103. Congo (Brazzaville) (4.812)
104. Gabon (4.799)
105. Laos (4.796)
106. South Africa (4.722)
107. Albania (4.719)
108. Venezuela (4.707)
109. Cambodia (4.700)
110. Palestinian Territories (4.696)
111. Senegal (4.681)
112. Somalia (4.668)
113. Namibia (4.639)
114. Niger (4.628)
115. Burkina Faso (4.587)
116. Armenia (4.559)
117. Iran (4.548)
118. Guinea (4.534)
119. Georgia (4.519)
120. Gambia (4.516)
121. Kenya (4.509)
122. Mauritania (4.490)
123. Mozambique (4.466)
124. Tunisia (4.461)
125. Bangladesh (4.456)
126. Iraq (4.437)
127. Congo (Kinshasa) (4.418)
128. Mali (4.390)
129. Sierra Leone (4.374)
130. Sri Lanka (4.366)
131. Myanmar (4.360)
132. Chad (4.350)
133. Ukraine (4.332)
134. Ethiopia (4.286)
135. Swaziland (4.212)
136. Uganda (4.189)
137. Egypt (4.166)
138. Zambia (4.107)
139. Togo (4.085)
140. India (4.015)
141. Liberia (3.975)
142. Comoros (3.973)
143. Madagascar (3.933)
144. Lesotho (3.802)
145. Burundi (3.775)
146. Zimbabwe (3.663)
147. Haiti (3.597)
148. Botswana (3.488)
149. Syria (3.462)
150. Malawi (3.410)
151. Yemen (3.380)
152. Rwanda (3.334)
153. Tanzania (3.231)
154. Afghanistan (3.203)
155. Central African Republic (3.083)
156. South Sudan (2.853)

...the Indonesian's showtime

Philippines’ ‘It’s Showtime’ franchised by Indonesia 

Jan Milo Severo

philstar.com

March 19, 2019 

MANILA, Philippines — Indonesia’s MNC TV announced that the TV station will be airing its own version of ABS-CBN’s hit noontime show “It’s Showtime” soon.

To announce the franchise, MNC TV’s Facebook page posted a lyric video of the Kapamilya noontime show.

“IT'S SHOWTIME INDONESIA SOON ON MNCTV! The newest and definitely exciting program will be on MNCTV! Curious about what fun and excitement is like? #ItsShowtimeIndonesia SOON on MNCTV,” the TV network said in Bahasa.

"It's Showtime" Business Unit Head Peter Edward Dizon confirmed the news by sharing the video posted by MNCTV on his Facebook page.

“HELLO THERE It's Showtime Indonesia. Congrats Team Showtime!” he wrote.

https://web.facebook.com/MnctvOfficial/videos/255806141968654/

The noontime show’s hosts Vhong Navarro and Vice Ganda also announced the news in the “Bidaman” segment of the noontime show last Saturday.

“It’s Showtime” is not the first Filipino noontime show to be franchised by an Indonesian media company.

In 2012, the show’s timeslot rival, “Eat Bulaga!,” was also franchised by an Indonesian company. The Indonesian “Eat Bulaga!,” however, only lasted for two years.

...the Fox's first pinoy movie

FOX makes first Filipino film

FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1

Nathalie Tomada

Philippine Star

16 March 2019

MANILA, Philippines — FOX, home to hit series and Hollywood movies, makes its first foray into the Filipino movie-making industry.

FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1.

According to the film’s description, Maledicto tells the story of Fr. Xavi (played by Tom Rodriguez), a former psychologist who becomes an exorcist after the tragic and mysterious death of his sister, Mara (Inah de Belen). He meets Sr. Barbie (played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith), a young nun who has the special gift of charism. Together, they deal with the case of Agnes (Miles Ocampo), a seemingly perfect teenager who starts manifesting demonic behavior that will rock the foundations of the church and put one’s faith to test.

The film is co-produced by Cignal Entertainment and Unitel, with ABS-CBN Films tapped as distributor. Maledicto is directed by Mark Meily.

In a roundtable media interview last Thursday, Jude Turcuato, senior vice president and general manager of FNG Philippines, expressed his excitement over their pioneering film venture, which he said is a result of thorough planning. They spent at least two years on studying nearly 100 scripts and pitches before going for Maledicto. They started filming the original production in March 2018. The movie is now “99 percent complete.”