Where is the happiest place on Earth? A new poll finds the surprising answer – Panama, where the poverty, inequality and poor education would normally dishearten the people. The new State of Global Well-Being reveals Syria and Afghanistan are least happy, while the UAE was ranked 14th happiest country in the world.
The Global Well-Being Index was just released by Gallup-Healthways for the year 2013 and debunked the myth that Scandinavian countries, led by Denmark, are the happiest in the world. In a survey of 135 countries, conducted for a total of six years and featuring over 2 million interviews, Panama emerged as the happiest place on Earth. The researchers looked at people’s financial status, social well-being (basically family relationship and love), community well-being (whether you like where you live), having purpose and goals, and of course, physical health. All these form our perception of well-being, according to the report.
Globally, it’s a gloomy picture, with the majority of the world’s population found to be “struggling” or “suffering” in many of these elements of the happiness. And only 1 in 6 adults, or 17% of the respondents, are “thriving” in three or more of them. The United Arab Emirates comes 14th in the list, where countries are ranked based on the percentage of these 17%. This means that in Panama, 61% of the people are “thriving” in at least three elements, while the percentage for the UAE falls to only 31. Many of the nations have the same overall results, so if we look at the minor differences in the separate categories, the UAE actually receives 18th position. The country’s best result is in the aspect of community well-being – 49% of the people are satisfied with the place and the conditions here.
World’s 10 Happiest Countries:
- Panama
Costa Rica
Denmark
Austria
Brazil
El Salvador
Uruguay
Sweden
Canada
Guatemala
Saudi Arabia has 43% thriving people in this element, while 48% of Bahrain’s population has a good financial status. However, countries affected by conflict have a significant influence over the region’s performance. The Middle East and North Africa have 13% people thriving in at least three elements and only Sub-Saharan Africa is behind with 9%. Financial and community well-being are most experienced in the region, but there is low sense of purpose. In fact, the UAE is among only 5 countries outside the Americas and Europe that have high levels of any kind of well-being – Bahrain in financial well-being (48%), Saudi Arabia in community well-being (43%) and physical well-being (39%), Malta in social well-being (47%), Sri Lanka (50%) and UAE (49%) in community well-being.
