Putrajaya relates people's happiness to BR1M

Putrajaya has related the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) handout to the country's happiness ranking in the world.

In a parliamentary written reply, the Prime Minister's Department (PMD) noted that Malaysia ranked 42nd out of 155 countries in the "World Happiness Report 2017" - a leap of five places from 2016.

This was the second consecutive year the country has improved its ranking since 2015, the PMD said.

"The country ranked third in Asean, behind Singapore which ranked 26th, and Thailand ranked 32nd. It has outperformed other Asean members, such as the Philippines (72nd) and Indonesia (81st).

"Moreover, our ranking is higher than that of developed countries, such as Italy (48th), Japan (51st), South Korea (56th) and Hong Kong (71st).

"Such performance is backed by the improvement from the aspect of social support, the level of income per capita and the freedom of choice," added PMD.

The performance also showed that the government always ensured the prosperity of the people grew in line with the 11th Malaysian Plan, the department said. 

"The government also emphasises on human capital development and social development to help the people reduce the burden from the rising cost of living. 

"This includes the BR1M handout to seven million low-income households, 334 Klinik 1Malaysia facilities, which offer services at a minimal charge of RM1, and 1,061 clinics nationwide, of which, 242 provide health expertise services," it said. 

[More to follow]

- Mkini