Asians find shopping therapeutic and the activity has now become a national pastime for many Asian countries.

A study made by ACNeilsen said Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand rank the highest in the world where citizens shop twice a week as a form of entertainment.

The result of the survey, published Wednesday in the Philippine Daily Inquirer found that 74 percent of the world's consumers go to shopping malls to entertain themselves or when they have nothing to do.

ACNeilsen said that 9 out of 10 respondents in Singapore claimed to go shopping for recreation.

Singapore as well as Japan are the only two Asian countries among the top 10 countries where people think that shopping for clothes as "therapeutic."

The world's most populous nations, China and India, were also found to be heavy shoppers.

The survey said one-third of respondents in China and one-fifth in India said that shopping for clothes is their favorite pastime.

Ashok Charan, managing director of ACNeilsen Research in Singapore said, "Shopping has become a national pastime in many Asian countries and is so entrenched in the lifestyles of Thais, Hong Kongers and Singaporeans, that governments have wisely turned this characteristic into a major tourism attraction."