Gallup; Paraguay is the World's Happiest Country, Syria the Unhappiest Country

[NewYorkExpress]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/169322/people-worldwide-reporting-lot-positive-emotions.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/169322/people-worldwide-reporting-lot-positive-emotions.aspx#2

Gallup recently did a survey about positive emotions felt in 2013 by country, with the Latin American Country of Paraguay weighing in as the happiest country with a Positive Experience Index score of 87. The remainder of the top-eight happiest countries are Panama, home of the great Panama Canal, with a PEI score of 86, Guatemala, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, with a PEI score of 83, Nicaragua, with a PEI score of 83, Ecuador, which has the most biodiversity of any square kilometer of any nation and a PEI score of 83, Costa Rica, which has had "free and fair" elections since 1948, with a current score of 82, Colombia, which is slowly recovering from violent drug wars, and has PEI score of 82, Denmark, which is the only country outside of Latin America in the top ten and has PEI score of 82.


At the bottom of the list (or the unhappiest country in the world) is Syria, in it's third year of civil war, with a PEI score of 36, the remainder of the bottom eight are Chad, which has had to deal with large numbers of refugees from Darfur, The Central African Republic, a famine and a President (Idriss Deby) who behaves very similarly to a dictator. Chad has a PEI score of 52. Third from the bottom is Lithuania, which has had Vladimir Putin staring over their shoulders for awhile now, with a PEI score of 53, next is Bosina and Herzegovina and Serbia who both PEI scores of 54, followed by Nepal, which has a PEI score of 54, Belarus, which is a dictatorship (and may be also be eyed by Putin) with a PEI score of 54, and Yemen which in open civil war, with a PEI score of 55

Other notable PEI scores include the United States's 78, Mexico's 76, Kosovo's 68, Iran's 63, Ukraine's 60, Russia's 61, The Palestinan Territories 61 (Which presumably includes Israel-they aren't separately), Greece's 62 and the United Kingdom's 73.

[politicus]

Why does Latin American countries top this poll?

[dead0man]

Why does Latin American countries top this poll?

cheap cocaine

[eric82oslo]

Why does Latin American countries top this poll?

Many/most of the countries atop face extreme amounts of violence and killings, some of the highest in the world. That is Guatemala, Nicaragua and Colombia. Countries like Costa Rica and Panama are completely the contrast however, very peaceful nations. I've myself spent weeks in Costa Rica and Guatemala, and it feels like going from one continent to another, two utterly different worlds, despite them almost being neighbours. In Guatemala I saw guns on almost every corner, in front of so many shops, military vehicles roamed the streets and I heard several shots during my two weeks stay there. Basically, I never felt safe. On the contrast, in Costa Rica I didn't even see one single gun. Even though I was warned about crime in certain blocs of the capital (San Jose), I never felt threatened, not even during night time. On the contrary, Costa Rica is one of the happiest, most openminded, playful, hospitable and lush places I've ever been to. I've got a few friends there now and I'm actually planning to go back again for Christmas. I can totally see why it would rank highly on a well-being list. It's also one of only two countries in the world which has written a ban of a national army into its own constitution (the other one being its southern neighbour Panama).

Now, how three of the most violent countries on earth, including Colombia, but particularily Guatemala and Nicaragua, can rank so highly, is a total mystery to me. Colombia I can sort of understand, cause Colombians are like noone else, constantly smiling, cheerful, happy, laughing, making jokes and enjoying themselves (despite their nation's many problems), the two others however... Guatemala for instance left its civil war just 18 short years ago, they still haven't had a single well-functioning precidency and Guatemala City still feels like in the middle of a civil war at time. You can never feel safe anywhere, whether in the city or on the countryside.

El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, which I see have also entered the top 10 this year, are also extremely violent societies. All among the ten countries in the world with highest percentages of murders in fact. I can sort of understand why Venezuelans are feeling better than before, as they've gone from one of the most poverty-striken countries and with the highest degree of economic inequality in all of Latin America, to the other extreme nowadays (being one of the most equal countries in the same region), thanks to a number of social programmes initiated during the past 10-12 years. El Salvador however, I think is the most violent country on earth. Every single person in that country must know someone, whether a relative or not, who's been murdered. The level of drug mafia violence is atrocious (makes Mexico's drug war of the past decade seem like innocence in comparison). I cannot understand how anyone in that country can report feeling happy. Their recent history of the past century is arguably the most cruel and sad of any Latin American countries as well. The horrors and tortures that people have had to suffer is incomprehensible. As a tourist I would for sure never even consider going there, as things are now. Pretty much the mafia runs everything, including the government, and more or less simgle-handedly choose the president.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

All the unhappy people in Guatemala must have immigrated to Mexico or the USA.

[eric82oslo]

All the unhappy people in Guatemala must have immigrated to Mexico or the USA.

Probably something like that.
Also I can think of two other reasons why the region would feel upbeat at the moment, besides the obvious as the Gallup article also states, that Latinos are born with optimism and the ability to enjoy and cherish life like noone else. I've lived a year in Chile myself, so I can assure that it's completely another ball game than Europe.

For one, almost all of Latin America has gone from authoritarian, abusive military dictatorships some 30-40-50 years ago (at some stage there was hardly a democracy left in Latin America, except Costa Rica) to these days, when only Cuba has some kind of dictatorship left (although the most benign dictatorship in the world for sure, including one of the highest health care standards of pretty much any country), although there are still some semi-authoritarian countries left in the region.

The second thing I can think of is the sudden boom in region. After China started to invest heavily in the region in the beginning of this millenium (say from around the year 2002), the region has constantly had an economic growth per capital in the range of (at most) 5-6-7% a year. Combine that with new, democratically elected left-wing governments in at least half of the countries, who have initiated social programmes of a never before seen scale in the region (Brazil and Venezuela are two of several stand-outs in that regard), the level of inequality has also started to shrink in much of the region, for the first time in modern history. Despite the violence in Central America, Mexico and parts of South America as well (Venezuela, Brazil & Colombia mostly), a lot of positive steps are being taken, and people in most of the region can finally see their quality of living rising slowly, but steadily. I think the region is filled with levels of optimism that you haven't seen there for at least two or three generations back, if ever.

[eric82oslo]

I just found a peculiar finding in that Gallup statement. It says that in no other of the 138 countries surveyed, more people reported feeling well-rested (88%) than in Bhutan. At the same time, in no other country (including Syria and any of the other 136) did people feel less respected than in Bhutan. Now that's a bit of a contrast. Topping and bottoming out in the same survey.

[eric82oslo]

I just realized that Norway is the only Nordic country they haven't included for some reason.
I wonder why, when they've included almost every other country in the world (and especially in Europe), including war-stricken Syria. Besides Norway, together with Denmark, Australia and Canada - has always been at or near number 1 in the United Nations' well being chart (which doesn't ask about personal happiness of course, but bases its finding on gender equality, education, health care, prosperity and such).
Also it shocks me that South Korea, one of Asia's richest and most prosperous countries - and Luxembourg, the world's richest or 2nd richest country - both obtain only 63 points each, which is just 4 points higher than Iraq, and actually lower than Afghanistan and Zimbabwe!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Paraguay? I would never guess.

Syria? Sadly no surprise.

[eric82oslo]

Paraguay? I would never guess.

I would have thought Uruguayans would have been much more happy than Paraguayans. Paraguayans have a really horrific history, especially during the 19th century, with wild dictatorships, wars and mass slaughterings of at about two thirds of its then current population (they went into a savage war against Brazil & Argentina). Paraguayans have a high percentage of indigenous people though. Perhaps that could have had some effect on the survey? On the other hand, Bolivia, with its 40% indigenous population, didn't rank particularily high.

Actually I take back that, as according to Wikipedia, 95% of Paraguayans report being mestizo or mixed race, with less than 5% being white, indigenous or any other race. That's actually similar to the situation in El Salvador and Honduras. So maybe having a society with few clear-cut racial differences, or more racial harmony, is the road to happiness? On the other hand, a country like Colombia, ranked high as well, has a bit of "every" race. According to Wiki again, more people in Paraguay apparantly speak the indigenous language guarani (98%) than speak Spanish (only 92%) - now that's a bit shocking, if true.

From Wall Street Journal: "Paraguay tops the world for the third year in a row—with 87% of respondents saying they had experienced a positive emotion the day before, such as laughing or feeling well-rested or being treated with respect."

All in all, the survey gives us many more questions than it actually answers.

Now, this quote from Wall Street Journal explains a lot: "Not that everything is upbeat in Latin America. The region also scored the second highest, after the Middle East, in negative emotions. "Latin American societies tend to be very emotional," said Jon Clifton, managing director for Gallup World Poll. "People report laughing a lot, but also a lot of sadness and anger and worry." "

And this quote from Wikipedia should explain even more: "Since the turn of the 21st century, Paraguay has experienced rapid economic growth. In 2010, its economy grew by 14.5 percent, the largest economic expansion in Latin America, and the third-fastest in the world (after Qatar and Singapore). By 2011, economic growth had slowed to 6.4 percent (still far higher than the global average), but more than doubled to 13.6 percent in 2013, one of the highest in South America and the world."

Even China doesn't come close to such a phenomenal economic growth during the past 3-4 years. Besides, the country should be more or less spared from drug wars and savaging urban crime rates, I reccon.

[Blue3]

It's culture, simple as that.

Latin American culture is very happy.

Like how Eastern European culture is very pessimistic.

[King]

Of course Latin America comes out on top in wellness, Gallup doesn't sample Latinos.

[angus]

I've myself spent weeks in Costa Rica and Guatemala...

To each his own!

I've been to both of those countries as well.  Guatemala twice, once for a couple of weeks and once for a week, and Costa Rica once for about ten days.  I liked Guatemala much better.  Seriously, much better.  I guess it's all what you make of it.  

El Salvador however, I think is the most violent country on earth.

Been there too.  I agree that it's a violent place, although to be fair I was in El Salvador during tje civil war that ended about 20 years ago.  However, I must disagree that it's the most violent place.  I suggest that you visit Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia before you come to that conclusion.  

I've been to several of the other Latinamerican countries on this list, but I don't care to comment on them all.  Mostly I wanted to voice my disagreement regarding Guatemala.  I found the people there to be cheerful and welcoming toward me, and I'm obviously a foreigner, and I wasn't flashing wads of cash.  In fact, more than once people stopped on the side of the road and invited me to jump in the back of their pickup, with the goats and grandchildren, if I wanted a ride.  Even when I offered money for those rides it was declined more often than not.  In Costa Rica, by contrast, I was constantly accosted by pimps, whores, drug dealers, and aerosol-huffing, crazed art students trying to sell their paintings.  Especially in San Jose, but to a lesser extent in Alajuela and even in Limón.  I often felt threatened in Costa Rica.  As for Guatemala, this never happened.  True, decent weed was easier to come by in Costa Rica than in Guatemala, but that is not the best measure of of a society's beneficence.  Honestly, I never once felt threatened in Guatemala.  I cannot disagree more with your characterization of that beautiful land and its peaceful people.

[politicus]

It's culture, simple as that.

Latin American culture is very happy.

Like how Eastern European culture is very pessimistic.

If it was culture alone the ranking would be more stable over time. Denmark was no. 1 in a poll 3-4 years ago with other Western countries in the top. That's why I was surprised with the certain Latin America domination of the top spots.

[Oakvale]

Thanks Pharrell!