The HPI or otherwise known as the Happy Planet Index released its 2014 report listing every country of the world from happiest to least happy based on three key areas: life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint. While the data is somewhat subjective, it’s interesting to see Latin America occupy most spots on the top 25 ‘happiest countries of the world’, especially when first world countries like Sweden, the US and the Netherlands occupy spots 62, 107 and 76 respectively. One would think the quality of life, starting with health care alone, would have them be at least in the top 20.
The top 10 countries on this list are: 1) Costa Rica, 2) Vietnam, 3) Colombia, 4) Belize, 5) El Salvador, 6) Jamaica, 7) Panama, 8) Nicaragua, 9) Venezuela, and 10) Guatemala. Other Latin American countries like Cuba, Argentina, Honduras and Mexico, occupy spots 12, 17, 14 and 21. Of course political situation, justice and education systems are not taken into consideration. If that were the case, we think the entire list would be turned around, putting most Latin American countries much closer to the bottom of the list.
The index is measured in colours with green being high, amber being more or less, and red being very low. The following map reflects each countries' "Experienced well-being":
With the same color index, the following map reflects the countries' "Life expectancy":
When it comes to Ecological Footprint, the indexes shift when first world countries have the lowest numbers while underdeveloped countries do better. Take a look:
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