Panama, the Happiest Country in the World!!


News from Panama / Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Perhaps money really doesn’t buy happiness!

A recent survey finds a relatively poor country has some of the world’s happiest people — while the least happy live in one of the wealthiest nations.

The Gallup poll ranks Panama as having the “population with the most positive emotions.”

Eighty-five percent of Panamanians responded to questions about their overall well-being with positive answers.

That’s in spite of Panama ranking just 90th worldwide in gross domestic product, a measurement of wealth.

Coming in dead last is Singapore with the highest GDP in the world.

Only 46 percent of Singapore residents answered “yes” to questions about whether they smiled a lot or felt treated with respect. That’s worse than places like Syria, Afghanistan and Haiti.

As for Americans, the survey found there seems to be a limit on how much money affects happiness.

Gallup reports no increase in daily happiness for people with incomes more than $75,000 a year, compared to people who earn less.

Top 10 happy countries

  • Panama (85%)
  • Paraguay (85%)
  • El Salvador (84%)
  • Venezuela (84%)
  • Trinidad and Tobago (83%)
  • Thailand (83%)
  • Guatemala (82%)
  • Philippines (82%)
  • Ecuador (81%)
  • Costa Rica (81%)

10 least happy countries

  • Singapore (46%)
  • Armenia (49%)
  • Iraq (50%)
  • Georgia (52%)
  • Yemen (52%)
  • Serbia (52%)
  • Belarus (53%)
  • Lithuania (54%)
  • Madagascar (54%)
  • Afghanistan (55%)