Happiest And Saddest Places

A Gallop poll released this month of nearly 150,000 people around the world says seven of the world's 10 countries with the most upbeat attitudes are in Latin America. can you believe it? Latin America! There is higher positive emotionality in these countries that in the wealthy ones or extremely poor. Apparently humans need not be kings or queens to find happiness. To find out happiness level, Gallup asked about 1,000 people in each of 148 countries last year if they were well rested, had been treated with respect, smiled or laughed a lot, learned or did something interesting and felt feelings of enjoyment the previous day. Contentment with one's economic condition was not factored into the survey.

Here is the list of most happy and most sad with the percentage of respondents who said they were happiest or saddest:

MOST POSITIVE TOP TEN
1. PANAMA and PARAGUAY- 85%
3. EL SALVADOR- 84%
4. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO- 83%
6. THAILAND and GUATEMALA- 82%
8. PHILIPPINES- 82%
9 ECUADOR and COSTA RICA- 81%

LEAST POSITIVE TOP NINE

1. SINGAPORE- Only 46% said they were happy
2. ARMENIA- 49%
3. IRAQ- 50%
4. GEORGIA, SERBIA and YEMEN- 52%
7. BELARUS- 53%
8. LITHUANIA and MADAGASCAR- 54%

One common characteristic about these happy countries is they have a culture that focuses on positives such as friends, family and religion, this despite daily lives that can be difficult. Feeling unhappy is part of the national mentality, probably because their is not the obsession with gaining economically as in the less happy ones. Or perhaps they just think they are happier, because happy and sad are highly subjective states.

The wealthiest nation in the world, the United States, answered 34th. And the most of the more developed nations and poorest countries tended to be in the middle to bottom of the ranking. It's a highly subjective poll/fun poll but seems to agree with the old adage that says that, "Money can't buy happiness."