Every year, on March 20, the world celebrated the International Day of Happiness. Still, the United Nations established the happiness day rather recently – in 2012. Despite that, it is celebrated all over the world with various events, flash mobs and positive messages. If you want to join the celebrations, you would certainly have a better time if you spend the holiday somewhere in Latin America. The countries in this regions are dominating the newest list of world’s happiest countries.
All countries that are included in the top 10 of the world’s happiest countries this year are located in Latin America. The happiest of them, however, is Paraguay where the happiness index is estimated at 89 points out of 100. Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala share the second positions on the ranking, since they each have a happiness score of 84 points.
The index proves that happiness and money are not always connected. Many of the top 10 happiest countries, are also among the poorest as well. Guatemala, for instance, ranks 118th when it comes to GDP per capita. Nevertheless, this fact did not prevented it from being the second happiest country in the world.
This year, the happiness index for the world is estimated at 71 points. This means that it remains almost unchanged compared to the past few years and it is still on the positive side of the fence.
Middle East and North Africa region, however, has a happiness index lower than the global average. MENA countries have achieved a happiness score of 52, which is a decrease compared to previous years. Nevertheless, according to the study, the reason behind this fall could be due to the fact that the UAE is missing from the latest list. The country tends to score quite high on such indexes. However, the data collected from GCC countries is yet to be processed.
At the bottom of the index are the world’s saddest countries. This year, Sudan is leading the way, followed by Tunisia, Turkey and Serbia. Therefore, if you are planning on having a truly happy Happiness Day, you should better head to any of the 10 happiest countries.
Happiest countries in the world: Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua.
