Gallup asked about 1,000 people in each of 148 countries if they were well-rested, had been treated with respect, smiled or laughed a lot, learned or did something interesting and felt feelings of enjoyment¹ the previous day. 

 

In Panama and Paraguay, 85 percent of those polled said yes to all five, putting those countries at the top of the list. They were followed closely by El Salvador, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Guatemala, the Philippines, Ecuador and Costa Rica. 

 

The people least likely to report positive emotions lived in Singapore, the wealthy and orderly city-state that ranks among the most developed in the world. Other wealthy countries also sat surprisingly low on the list. Germany and France tied with the poor African state of Somaliland for 47th place. 

 

Many of the seven countries which were most positive do poorly in traditional measures of well-being², like Guatemala, a country torn by decades of civil war followed by waves of gang-driven criminality that give it one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

 

Guatemala sits just above Iraq on the United Nations' Human Development Index, a composite of life expectancy³, education and per capita income. But it ranks seventh in positive emotions. 

 

'In Guatemala, it's a culture of friendly people who are always smiling,' said Luz Castillo, a 30-year-old surfing instructor⁴. 'Despite all the problems that we're facing, we're surrounded by natural beauty that lets us get away from it all.'

 

The poll shows that prosperous nations can also be deeply unhappy ones. And poverty-stricken ones are often awash in positivity, or at least a close approximation of it.

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