The new World Happiness Report is out and it looks like Panama has fallen to 25th.
This article and the full report explains in detail how these conclusions are reached. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/world-happiness-report-ranks-canada-5th-1.3044556
Income is important, but just part of the story in determining 'subjective well-being'
Replies
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-24/why-north-european...
The happiest place in the world is rollin' in my sweet baby's arms.
Walter,
You can thank your lucky stars it was a Sudamericana and not a Cubana because instead of a roller coaster it would have been like dropping from the top of Mt. Everest into the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a nanosecond.
lmao @ Jake. 'Hot' can mean more than one thing.
Why - a socialist agenda, of course!
Makes sense, Walter. There is a huge difference between the lack of cheerfulness / wellbeing / happiness that my older fundamentalist Christian/Calvinist Dutch relatives displayed, and what I see in Latin cultures.
However, I was intrigued by the agenda-driven aspect of the new study to provide guidelines for governments to improve well being and happiness according to scientific methods.
Just as some people equate fear of consequences with "respect" for authority, I think many people equate happiness with satisfaction - e.g. "He was happy with the results" - as opposed to happiness as it relates to cheerfulness.
I see the Gallup poll as attempting to measure happiness of the "cheerfulness" type, and the new agenda-oriented study as a "satisfaction with life" type of happiness.
One can be not fully satisfied with their life, but still be a happy person. For me, "happiness" has more to do with culture and personality than with "well-being."
This updated, detailed and complex report is an updated study using scientific methods to determine well being and happiness levels, and it has a specific goal: (The socialism haters are going to love this...)
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The results of the purely subjective Gallup polls (happiness only without rating "well-being") are quite different:
LINK
1 - Paraguay - 89
2 - Colombia - 84
3 - Ecuador - 84
4 - Guatemala - 84
5 - Honduras - 82
6 - Panama - 82
7 - Venezuela - 82
8 - Costa Rica - 81
9 - El Salvador - 81
10 - Nicaragua - 81
11 - Philippines - 80
12 - Singapore - 80
13 - Switzerland - 80
14 - Uruguay - 80
15 - Argentina - 79
16 - Bhutan - 79
17 - Canada - 79
The 2014 Gallup Positive Experience Index surveyed about 1,000 people in each country and asked them five questions about how they felt the day before, including whether they laughed or smiled, felt well rested and felt as if they were treated with respect. Participants also answered whether they had learned something interesting yesterday, and whether they felt enjoyment. Gallup officials then used the answers to calculate each country's "positive experience index score." [
The poll did not measure each country's gross domestic product (GDP), but instead focused on drivers that are key to positive emotions, such as laughing and feeling respected. Money can influence happiness, but only to a point, Gallup officials said, citing a 2010 study published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that found that once someone makes $75,000 a year, money has little impact on their daily emotions.
For instance, Guatemala's GDP ranks 118th in the world, but it is tied for the second-happiest country in the 2014 Gallup Positive Experience Index.
"There is much to be learned from Latin America on this International Day of Happiness, because while they aren't the wealthiest people in the world, they are certainly among the happiest," Gallup officials said.
I think this is all ....... skullduggery.
Walter should be happy with this story