Actually, a rather prominent study a while back found that Singapore is the least happy wealthy country on the planet, losing out to eg. Iraq, Haiti, Afghanista

Actually, a rather prominent study a while back found that Singapore is the least happy wealthy country on the planet, losing out to eg. Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Syria. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/world/asia/singapore-least-happy/ http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/world/asia/singapore-least... Singapore is also multiethnic, but it's quite resolutely not a melting pot. The heavy hand of the government is keeping a lid on a lot of tensions, not all of them obvious to the casual observer (Singapore-born Chinese vs mainland Chinese, etc). Last and not least, Singapore's wealth distribution is extremely unequal. It scores well on raw GDP per capita etc, but the poorer parts of society compete directly with foreign labor working in slave-like conditions(+), and thus work extremely hard for paltry salaries. (+) Quite literally, especially in the case of maids: it's not uncommon for them to be on duty 24/7/365, not allowed means of communication and physically locked inside the home when their masters are away.