QCOSTARICA — Costa Rica is the happiest country in Latin America and 12th in the world, according to the 2024 Global Happiness Report.
The report gives a rating to each country (from 1 to 10) based on the perception of its inhabitants about their life in general, and their well-being, based on the presence of positive and negative emotions.
It also takes into account the happiness of people at different stages of life and other indicators such as economic well-being, social support, income, health, freedom and absence of corruption, among others.
With 6.95 points, Costa Rica entered the world top 20, the first time since the second edition of the ranking in 2013, being the only representative of America along with Canada, which occupies 15th place.
In our case, young people under 30 years of age are those who report feeling happier in terms of general satisfaction, placing the country in 11th place worldwide, while people over 60 years of age are those who feel less happy, ranking 17th place.
Costa Rica rose 11 places from last year when it ranked 23rd.
Finland (7.74), Denmark (7.58), and Iceland (7.52) are the happiest countries in the world according to the study, while Lesotho (3.18), Lebanon (2.70), and Afghanistan (1.72) are in last places.
In Latin America, Mexico (6.67) and Uruguay (6.61) come second and third, consecutively, and in contrast, Ecuador (5.72), Colombia (5.69) and Venezuela (5.60) are last.
The report is published every year within the framework of the International Day of Happiness commemorated every March 20 and analyzes 143 countries.
It is carried out by Gallup, the multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C., with the sponsorship of the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations.
The 20 happiest countries in the world
- Finland
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Costa Rica
- Kuwait
- Austria
- Canada
- Belgium
- Ireland
- Czechia
- Lithuania
- United Kingdom
In Latin America:
- Costa Rica
- Mexico
- Uruguay
- El Salvador
- Chile
- Panama
- Guatemala
Nicaragua - Brazil
- Argentina
On social media (Redditt), people comment, “Isn’t there a study that says Costa Rica is the most expensive country too?”, to “Sometimes I feel like I live in a parallel universe,” to which the poster is asked, “How much is the exchange rate in that parallel universe?”.
Juanito Mora comments, “Even with all the bad things we have, we must accept that we are not as bad as the vast majority of American states, not to say that we are much better. Be careful, this does not mean that we rest on our laurels and let everything continue as it is, we have MANY things that are not right and we must focus on fixing them so that we continue to improve day by day.”
Kaoltto adds, “Yes, I agree but not because I feel happier but because the world is more f***d up,”, while drakon-93 comments, “Chaves seals and the drug traffickers are quite happy.”
Read more comments on the “Ticos” subreddit here.
