Singaporeans 'world's least emotional people'

Never mind its temperate balmy weather, low unemployment rate and high per-capita GDP - Singapore is the most emotionless society in the world, according to a new Gallup poll, beating the traditionally po-faced Georgia, Lithuania and Russia in a survey of more than 150 nations.

Just 36 per cent of Singaporeans reported feeling positive or negative emotions on a daily basis, while 60 per cent of Filipinos recorded regularly feeling both - the highest response rate of any country worldwide.

Asking respondents questions such as "Did you feel well-rested yesterday?", "Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?" and "Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?", the survey found that Singaporeans were the least likely to reveal experiencing any emotions at all.

"If you measure Singapore by the traditional indicators, they look like one of the best-run countries in the world," Gallup's Jon Clifton was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report on the survey. "But if you look at everything that makes life worth living, they're not doing so well."

The poll's findings - released on Wednesday - went viral on the internet and became the butt of many jokes, not least among Singaporeans themselves.

"Singapore ranked most emotionless country in the world - not sure how to feel about that," ran a number of Singapore-based tweets. "That [poll] is a lie," commented one reader on the online news portal Today. "I use many emoticons to express how satisfied I am."