Happiest place to live in the world is revealed (hint: it has a canal)

Panama may be the happiest country in the world, racking up the highest score in the Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index for 2013. In contrast, conflict-afflicted countries such as Syria and Afghanistan showed the lowest scores in this survey of 135 countries. The United States came in at No. 14 in the poll and the United Kingdom at 26. The Global Well-Being Index aims to gauge people’s perceptions of their well-being, by looking at financial status as well as four other factors that contribute to well-being.

Each element of well-being is important on its own, but the elements are also interdependent and well-being is more than the sum of the elements.

Gallup officials, in a statement

They include social well-being such as having supportive relationships and love in life; community well-being, which is about liking one’s place of residence; having purpose and goals; and physical health. Only 1 in 6 adults (17%) worldwide were considered to be “thriving” in at least three of these five elements of well-being. The majority of global populations were “struggling” or “suffering” in many of these domains, the researchers found.

That only 17 percent of residents in the 135 countries and areas surveyed are thriving in three or more elements underscores how most of the world is struggling to achieve high well-being.

Gallup officials

World panama happiest