By NAN News Editor
News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Thurs. March 23, 2023: No Caribbean or Latin American country has made it into the Top 30 list of Happiest Countries in the world, according to the latest World Happiness Report, out today.
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by the Gallup World Poll data. Measurement of subjective well-being, according to the report’s authors, continues to rely on three main well-being indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The happiness rankings are based on life evaluations, as the more stable measure of the quality of people’s lives.
“The overall goal is a happier society,” said Richard Layard. “But we only get there if people make each other happy (and not just themselves). It’s an inspiring goal for us as individuals. And it includes the happiness of future generations – and our own mental health.”
According to the report, the Happiest country in the world is Finland, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Israel.
Chile, Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua are the only four Latin American countries to break into the Top 35. Chile ranked at 35th and Mexico at 36th while Panama ranked at 38th and Nicaragua at 40.
The only two Caribbean nations making the list of 137 nations were Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Both barely made it into the Top 75. Jamaica was ranked at 68 while the DR ranked at 73.
Country rankings this year are based on life evaluations in 2020, 2021, and 2022, so all of the observations are drawn from years of high infection and deaths from COVID-19.
