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Today, Gallup and Healthways released their annual well-being survey, combining more than 146,000 surveys in 145 countries and areas, to see how they compare in terms of life satisfaction.
But what exactly does "well-being" mean? It's hard to say, but for the purposes of this report, researchers divided it into five categories:
- Purpose: Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.
- Social: Having supportive relationships and love in your life.
- Financial: Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security.
- Community: Liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community.
- Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily.
And for the second year in a row, Panama ranked the highest in overall well-being, with 53% of its people saying "they are thriving in three or more of the five elements" of overall well-being. The U.S. lagged far behind, in 23rd place, with 30.5% saying the same.
Here's the top 10 (and, as you can see, Latin America swept the competition):
- Panama
- Costa Rica
- Puerto Rico
- Switzerland
- Belize
- Chile
- Denmark
- Guatemala
- Austria
- Mexico
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 10 countries ranked lowest in well-being are war-torn and impoverished nations:
- Afghanistan
- Bhutan
- Cameroon
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Congo Kinshasa
- Ivory Coast
- Benin
- Haiti
- Ghana
You can view the complete report here.
What do you think of the rankings?
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