UAE ranks first in World Happiness Index (25/03/26)

0:00This is Pulse 95. You're listening to the Morning Magilist podcast. Join the conversation with the Morning Magilist, Pulse 95. Yes, welcome back on to the morning, Ganesha. This is a conversation that we really want you to get on and get involved with us talking about it because it can relate to every single one of us living in this country. Because the United Arab Emirates has just been named the happiest country in the Arab world. It's sitting at number 21 globally in the latest world happiness report of 2026. That's out of the 147 countries, by the way. So we're pretty high up there. And what I like about this report is not just based on people saying, yeah, I feel happy today and I feel happy living here. Let's move on with that. No, no, no, it actually looks at real life stuff. Like how much people earn, how long they live, how free they feel to make their own choices, how generous people are and even things like trusting government and business and obviously quality of life.

1:08So the UAE ranked fourth in the world for freedom to make life choices. Honestly, you feel that right? Like whether it's a switching career, starting a business, freelancing, even something simple like deciding what I'm going to try something new this year. People here actually do that and do it freely. You see it all the time. Someone moves here for one job and a year later they've launched maybe a side hustle, they've started a cafe, they become a content creator. That kind of flexibility not everywhere has that and we have that here in the country. But now let's talk about income. Yeah, I mean, it's quite an interesting one when we're looking at how well we're doing across so many different scores and so many different ranks. It's really a unique side of it in terms of the GDP per capita. We did rank eighth, which out of 147 countries is incredibly high and we did get a $70,000 score there. Only that 19th when it comes to generosity. I didn't even know that was a ranking that we could actually scale, but yeah, we ranked 19th in terms of generosity.

2:16But normally when we travel somewhere, we say, oh, those people are stingy. Yeah, they're not the people are a generous true. It's actually one of those first impressions that we have on any country or any population. Yeah, well, they've looked at it in terms of our charitable donations as well. So we, I mean, we talk about it every day nearly about how humanitarian we are with our charitable donations. And it's showcase here with the world happiness index, which is absolutely incredible. We're kind of getting our level of recognition here, aren't we? And you know, we asked you earlier out there to text us at 4215 why you think the UAE is a so-called happy place. And loads of texts have been coming in. Got to give a massive shout out. Amina's just texted in saying, I love the healthcare. Well, good morning, Amina. I do agree the healthcare is incredible. That's why the life expectancy is so high. Taric has also texted in saying family and safety. I think all of those are the perfect summary of the United Arab Emirates.

3:17It's a deciding factor as to why families move here. When you talk about the safety, when you talk about the healthcare, it's above and beyond when you look at the international average. And I think that's why we're standing out so highly in the world happiness index. Absolutely. And I love the fact that you just mentioned life expectancy came in at around 30 of globally. So yeah, there's always room to improve, but the overall the big picture is strong. And I feel like we have the strongest healthcare sectors, one of the strongest healthcare sectors, if not the finest in the world. Because that's something that we feel, especially when we maybe go when we visit any other countries abroad, I felt it personally. And I was like, wow, we do underestimate the power of having such a strong and elite. And again, let's focus on the word elite healthcare sector. Because when I, for example, we travel, right, all of us we travel a lot. And for me as one, I went to a country. I'm not going to say which country. I went to one of those popular countries that a lot of people love to go to a very well advanced country.

4:24And I had a medical emergency. And I was in deep pain. And I needed to go to the emergency room. And I had to wait three hours, three hours in the emergency room in full pain for a doctor to see me. So imagine that in this isn't going to country abroad. So here you will never see that you will know whether you're in pain, whether you're not. In a couple of minutes, someone's going to see you. They're going to make sure that you're okay. They're going to take care of you. This is the kind of system that everybody should just look at and try to mimic. Yeah, I agree. Every country. Yeah. Right. So this is something that we tend to underestimate, especially that if we're so used to living in the UAE for such a long time, we kind of like brush it off like it's nothing like it's the norm. But actually, it's not the norm for a lot of countries. Most of the countries, this is not the norm to be honest. I think it's just the UAE that has that privilege.

5:25Altogether, where really stands out is the feeling of stability in this country. Like, you know, you wake up, you go to work, you meet people from all over the world. It's like a global village vibe, you know, you meet people from all corners of the world. You've got options for everything from food to entertainment to career paths. Of course, no income, no income tax, you know, you get your paycheck full every single month. That's something also that we tend to underestimate as well. And there's that underlying sense that things are just so organized, so safe, moving forward. You can go out, you can do anything. I cannot stress enough the amounts of times that I left my house without locking it. Locking the door, forgetting to lock the door. It's not like I'm doing it on purpose. But I don't panic. When I remember that I didn't, I don't panic. And because this is how safe this country tends to be. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think you've taken a lot of the reasons there. And I think as well to myself, you know, kind of taking it from the other side of the argument or discussion. Do you think that those standards, because they're set so high, whether it is the health care, whether it is the level of city.

6:33Do you think that because they're so high, when you do travel, we're spoiled, really? That's why I want to come back. Yeah, yeah, literally. And you could think that, okay, well, if it's here, and this is how it runs. And then when I go on holiday, it's going to be the exact same. And then you get, then you're like, hold on a minute. It's, it's nothing in terms of those standards that we get back home. Are we spoiled in that respect? We are so spoiled. We are so spoiled. You know, when it comes to vacation time. And I'm like, yes, I cannot wait to go on vacation. And I go on vacation. And they're like, my threshold's like five, five days. I'm like, I need to go back now. You know, even though I'm enjoying my time probably, but, but I always compare. Yeah, without me noticing. I mean, I just compare. I'm like, oh, why am I carrying my own bags? For example, or why do I have to do this for myself? There's someone in the UAE that could do this for me, but here in this other country, everything is like help yourself, help yourself, help yourself. So that's like a convenient or convenience kind of a kind of a thing. And then when you look at safety, some people like locals in the other countries, they'll probably tell you, don't go to this place.

7:36It's not a safe. Don't go to this place by yourself. It's not going to be a safe. There's some theft or there's this. There's that. You don't have that here in the UAE altogether. You know, you don't hear that. And then what else? There's, oh, the health care system I just mentioned. That's another thing. So you're always worried, oh my God, what if I get sick? What will happen? How will I maneuver my way through this situation while I'm abroad? So you always have them back of your head. Well, if you're in the UAE, you have nothing to worry about. Everything is set for you. So yeah, it is kind of difficult because you can't help yourself. But to compare when you're abroad, you're like, wow, we have it so good over there. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think a lot of it actually comes down to our leaders that we have across the country. We believe what they say. We trust what they say because they always deliver on what they say. You don't have that in other countries. You know, that relationship between the community and the leaders is incredibly strong here in the United Arab Emirates. I like to think about what it is for me personally as why we've been topping that list in the world happiness index.

8:41I have to put it down to one word and one word only. And that is opportunities. And what I mean by that is there is something for every single person. All walks of life is accepted here in the UAE and celebrated as well. You know, we have such a diverse range of nationalities who call the United Arab Emirates home. How does that work with everyone having a smile on their face? And it's because of those opportunities. You know, if you want to work in the car industry, the airline industry, the radio industry, whatever industry, we have a bit of everything here in the UAE. So you're incredibly catered for, you're cared for, you're looked after. And you don't have that standard. Not only across the Arab world, but really across the entire globe that we have kind of built this incredible world for all nationalities. And convenience, this king as well, because everything here is designed to be so easy for everyone. Whether it's government services, they're on an app. You can get almost anything from groceries to a car wash delivered to your door in minutes.

9:41It saves you so much time for things you actually want to do. Yeah, that's just a mention a few things when it comes to convenience. So yeah, very happy people. Yeah, it's incredible. Let's continue that chat throughout the show because we need to celebrate it, don't we? We want to ask you out there what makes the UAE a happy place? If anything comes to mind, text it to 4-2-1-5. And we'll bring it up later on in the program. Here's Blining Lights by the weekend. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. This is post-95. Tune in live every weekday from 7 a.m.