20 Happiest Countries in the World

[deborah]

Gallup Inc conducted interviews with around 1,000 people in 138 countries, aged 15 and over, to see if they laughed, smiled, felt respected, experienced enjoyment or felt well rested the day before.

20 happiest countries in the world

    Paraguay
    Panama
    Guatemala
    Nicaragua
    Ecuador
    Costa Rica
    Colombia
    Denmark
    Honduras
    Venezuela
    El Salvador
    Indonesia
    Philippines
    Thailand
    UAE
    Canada
    New Zealand
    Australia
    Chile
    Argentina

Maybe these would be the best places to retire?

[ch12]

In some ways, yes - there's obviously good quality of life.

I'd totally live in Ecuador (it's beautiful there) but for

• a ridiculous and unstable government
• the strange and corrupt judicial system

That applies to a couple of the countries on the list. Thailand has been a popular American expat destination. Then, this morning, I read about the military coup.
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-thailand-coup-20140523-story.html

I like that Canada and New Zealand make the list. I think I'd totally live in Vancouver if I really didn't want to live in the US. However, I really do love this country, and I'd rather stay here.

[Eddy]

Many Venezuelans are happy but they are not living in a happy place, not at all. Actually, most people want to get out of that country. That's what happened to me, and luckily I was one of the few who had the chance to move.

Btw, now Venezuelans won't be able to travel anymore with their currency and are basically isolated from the world. Just a flight to Miami would cost them approximately 20 months of minimum wage salary, a flight to Madrid would be like 100 months and a nice car like 200 months or more. Not a cool place to live!

I would not like to retire in a South American country, even though things might be cheaper. Actually, I would prefer to live in Canada.

[Argyle]

My guess is that much of the reason many of these places rank so high on the happiness scale is strong social ties.  Often large families, and many strong ties within the family.  Not so much moving away to pursue careers (for good and for bad), not so much chasing of enormous wealth (for good and for bad).  I do know that strong social ties correlate more closely to happiness than does material wealth.

[Letj]

My guess is that much of the reason many of these places rank so high on the happiness scale is strong social ties.  Often large families, and many strong ties within the family.  Not so much moving away to pursue careers (for good and for bad), not so much chasing of enormous wealth (for good and for bad).  I do know that strong social ties correlate more closely to happiness than does material wealth.

Absolutely true! I came from such an environment and I can tell you that these are the happiest people. Many of them are materially poor and sometimes don't even know it because they are so happy being contented with a life of little expectation. Now, if you're literally starving, that's a different scenario but there are few countries where people are actually starving.

[Jamesqf]

Gallup Inc conducted interviews with around 1,000 people in 138 countries...

Which works out to an average of 7.25 people per country, which hardly seems statistically significant.

I'd also wonder about their criteria for happiness.  I mean, well rested?  Maybe I'm not typical, but I'm happiest when I've done (or am doing) something physically strenuous - hiking, skiing, a long bike ride, etc.

[Adventine]

Gallup Inc conducted interviews with around 1,000 people in 138 countries, aged 15 and over, to see if they laughed, smiled, felt respected, experienced enjoyment or felt well rested the day before.

20 happiest countries in the world

    Paraguay
    Panama
    Guatemala
    Nicaragua
    Ecuador
    Costa Rica
    Colombia
    Denmark
    Honduras
    Venezuela
    El Salvador
    Indonesia
    Philippines
    Thailand
    UAE
    Canada
    New Zealand
    Australia
    Chile
    Argentina

Maybe these would be the best places to retire?

The level of happiness of a country isn't a guarantee that that country has a stable government, a clean environment, a thriving economy, a low level of class/social strife or decent living conditions for the majority of its citizens. All things which, I imagine, would matter to a prospective retiree.

[roselvin]

Not according to my perspective.

[GuitarStv]

Overall level of happiness in a country doesn't mean that I'd be happy there.