These are the happiest countries: Where does Panama rank?

Finland, at No. 1, and Afghanistan, at No. 143, are the bottom two places on the World Happiness Report’s 2024 list, with Panama at No. 39.

The report, which is based on surveys conducted in 143 countries and whose publication coincides with International Day of Happiness (March 20)this year, for the first time, it focuses on the analysis of happiness in different periods of life.

The authors point out that happiness is traditionally associated with youth, and old age is considered a less happy phase of life, but the current reality refutes these ideas.

The “positive global trend in life satisfaction” in the age group 15 to 24 ended with pandemic coronavirus, according to a study that is the result of collaboration between Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the editorial board of the World Happiness Report (WHR).

From 2006-2010 Happiness in the 15-24 age group has declined significantly in North America, “to the extent that young people are less happy than old people,” and also fell into that group, albeit less sharply, in Western Europe, the report said.

In contrast, happiness at all ages has risen significantly in Central and Eastern Europe, so that “young people are now equally happy in both parts of Europe”.

The countries of the former Soviet Union and East Asia also recorded a large increase in happiness at all ages, while in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, on the contrary, it fell.

The United States of America has fallen out of the top 20 happiest countries in the world for the first time in more than a decade, driven in particular by a decline in young people’s perception of happiness. The World Happiness Report 2024 places it in 23rd place, while in last year’s edition it was 15th.

The report partly attributes the drop in the US position, as well as Germany (24th place), to a trend of increasing perceptions of happiness among Eastern European countries.

The report points out that, on the contrary, there are countries that show a significant increase in ratings and highlights the case of Serbia, in 37th place, and Bulgaria, in 81st place, which have risen by 69 and 63 places, respectively, since the 2013 edition. .

“The ten countries at the top of the list are still practical the same ones from before the covid pandemic“, the report points out.

Finland, which has been in first place for seven years, is followed by Denmark, followed by Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.

The last are Afghanistan (143), Lebanon (142), Lesotho (141), Sierra Leone (140), Democratic Republic of Congo (139), Zimbabwe (138), Botswana (137), Malawi (136), Eswatini (135) and Zambia (134).

Among the studied Latin American countries, Mexico ranked best (25th), followed by Uruguay (26th), El Salvador (33rd), Chile (38th), Panama (39)Guatemala (42), Nicaragua (43), Brazil (44), Argentina (48), Paraguay (57), Honduras (61), Peru (68), Dominican Republic (69), Bolivia (73), Ecuador (74) , Colombia (78) and Venezuela (79).

Russia and Ukraine, which have been facing each other since 2022 in a war with no sign of a solution for now, are in 72nd and 105th place, respectively.

From a comparison of generations made this year, it is concluded that on average people born before 1965 – ‘boomers’ and their predecessors – are happier than those born after 1980 – ‘millennials’ and Generation Z-.

When we talk specifically about countries, the happiest children and young people up to 30 years old is Lithuania, and for those over 60 years old, Denmark is the happiest country in the world.