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Happiest people in the world live in the Americas
A new study has revealed where the happiest people in the world live and whilst the Americas tops the bill, its just not the US.
Every few months, you see stories about Nordic countries being ranked as the happiest places in the world. However, these studies often overlook smaller groups and communities in favor of surveying wealthier, more mainstream populations so where do the happiest people in the world really live?
Where do the happiest people in the world live?
According to a new study published on February 5, 2024, the happiest people in the world live in Central and South America not the Nordic countries as many previous studies have reported.
This comes from researchers from Spains Autonomous University of Barcelona and Canadas McGill University, who recently published their findings in the PNAS Journal of Anthropology.
The team argues that despite the widely known phrase money cant buy happiness, previous studies on global contentment have consistently (and unfairly) focused on people with a high degree of material wealth, ignoring smaller and poorer communities from the dataset.
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Here, the researchers interviewed almost 3,000 people from 19 indigenous and local communities around the world, with only 64% of respondents earning a regular cash income.
They then compared their results to those of the World Happiness Report, the largest dataset for wealthier and more mainstream populations, to see where in the world the happiest people actually live.
The scientists found that four indigenous and/or local groups scored higher than the Nordic nations, with the highest scores for happiness reported in Central and South America.
Despite having little monetary income, the respondents frequently report being very satisfied with their lives, and some communities report satisfaction scores similar to the wealthiest countries.
Co-author Professor Victoria Reyes-Garcia explained how The strong correlation frequently observed between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that wealth as generated by industrialized economies is not fundamentally required for humans to lead happy lives.
Interestingly, the team also stated that their findings could be good news for happiness in the face of growing threats from climate change, suggesting that happiness can be achieved without the need for large economic resources.
Our results are consistent with the notion that human societies can support very satisfying lives for their members without necessarily requiring high degrees of monetary wealth.
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This research paper was published on the PNAS platform, link to the full article here.
