Emerging Asian nations are finding out what developed ones discovered years ago: Money - and the stuff it buys - brings happiness, or at least satisfaction.

Levels of self-reported well-being in fast-growing nations like China, Indonesia and Malaysia now rival those in the United States, Germany and Britain, rich nations that have long topped the happiness charts, according to a Pew Research Center global survey released on Friday.

It says this shows how rises in national income are closely linked to personal satisfaction.