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If you’re the kind of person who likes being surrounded by upbeat folks, you should probably move to Latin America. At least if recent results from Gallup’s “positive experience index” are a reliable indicator of a nation’s joie de vivre. NPR reports that Latin American countries have dominated the top of Gallup’s poll, which asks people to gauge how positive they feel about their lives based on factors like “experiencing lots of enjoyment, laughing or smiling a lot, feeling well-rested, and being treated with respected.”
Paraguay scored highest for the third year in a row, with 87% of participants claiming they felt positive emotions about their lives. Denmark was the only non-Latin American country to crack the top 10 with a score of 82%, while the United States came in 19th at 78%.
Syria had the lowest score, no doubt a reflection of the calamitous civil war which has been tearing the country apart since March of 2011. Their score of 36% is an all-time Gallup low. Chad was next to last with 52%, while the overall average fell at 71%.
1000 people were polled in each of the 138 participating countries. Gallup did not publish any data on how many of these people may have been overexposed to Pharrell Williams’s aggressively optimistic pop song, which could have pressured them into thinking that were more “happy” than they actually were.
If you’re the kind of person who likes being surrounded by upbeat folks, you should probably move to Latin America—that is, if recent results from Gallup’s “positive experience index” are a reliable indicator of a nation’s joie de vivre.
that Latin American countries dominate the top of Gallup’s poll, which asks people to gauge how they feel about their lives based on factors such as “experiencing lots of enjoyment, laughing or smiling a lot, feeling well-rested, and being treated with respect.”
Paraguay scored highest for the third year in a row, with 87 percent of participants claiming they feel positive emotions about their lives. Denmark was the only non-Latin American country to crack the top 10 with a score of 82 percent, while the United States came in 19th at 78 percent.
Syria had the lowest score, no doubt a reflection of the calamitous civil war that has been tearing the country apart since March 2011. Its score of 36 percent is an all-time Gallup low. Chad was next to last with 52 percent, and the overall average fell to 71 percent.
Gallup did not publish any data on how many of these people might have been overexposed to Pharrell Williams’s , which could perhaps have bullied them into thinking they were more “happy” than they actually were.
