Happiest Country In The World 2014: Paraguay

Happiest country in the world 2014 is Paraguay, and surprisingly so. According to the latest Gallup poll on well-being, Paraguay has 87 percent of residents scoring high on an index of positive emotions.

As can be expected, since Syria suffered through a civil war, it is not one of the happiest country in the world 2014. It is in fact, the unhappiest and people there are so badly off they've hit a new low, according the survey finds. Despite this, generally, 70 percent of adults all over the world are reportedly frequently laughing, smiling or enjoying themselves.

According to the survey to find out the happiest country in the world 2014, the United States comes in the top one-quarter, with a happiness score of 78, the same as Chile, Argentina and Sweden. Managing Director Jon Clifton of the Gallup World Poll says he is not surprised at the findings. He said, "We know in Latin America culturally, there are a lot of highly positive emotions. It is a pretty emotional culture."

The happiest country in the world 2014 survey was made by Gallup. They used 1,000 adults in each of 138 countries in order to make up the index. It was simple really. They asked the adults five questions:

(1) whether people felt rested

(2) felt they were treated with respect

(3) laughed or smiled a lot

(4) whether they experienced enjoyment; and

(5) whether they had learned or done something interesting the day before

After that, Gallup then made up a Positive Experience Index score for each country. According to the results, which found out the happiest country in the world 2014, most of the happiest countries are in Latin America.

The five top countries all are:

Paraguay 87
Panama 86
Guatemala 83
Nicaragua 83
Ecuador 83

The bottom countries include:

Syria 36
Chad 52
Lithuania 53
Bosnia 54
Serbia 54

Gallup reportedly worked hand in hand with Healthways to develop the index and come up with the happiest country in the world 2014. Healthways is a company which promotes and studies well-being. Clifton said that while the five simple questions point to basic well-being, it's important to take a deeper dive as well. He said, "What we wanted to find out was what was driving those five things." He added that for students, the school is a big factor, and also the workplace is important. "Another is financial well-being.", Clifton said. Sense of community is important as well.

As the survey pointed out, it's also important to see whether negative experiences outweigh the positive ones. This apparently doesn't happen in Latin America often, as people there have both the highest positive emotions and the highest negative emotions, and still the country ended up on top in terms of well-being.

Clifton said, "You take two middle-aged women, one that has a child and one that does not have a child. Which one evaluates her life the higher? It is the one that has the child. Who has the most stress and also the most sadness? It is also the one with the child."

Clifton also said that an ongoing research show that the United States consistently scores poorly in workplace happiness, especially on Wednesday. U.S. happiness reportedly peaks on weekends.

According to Clifton, "We need to do a better job of understanding workplace happiness. People will take paycuts in order to do jobs they love."

Gallup takes the measure of finding out the happiest country in the world 2014 to heart. As reported by NBC News, Clifton said that Healthways came in and even assessed Gallup's employees. The scores indicated that they could feel better on community measurements, which is why they have made changes.

Clifton said, "We do a range of things where the office will get together and say 'let's choose an emphasis on community well-being' and we choose five non-profits and get involved in them." And it sure made teh people happier? He said, "It certainly improved their well-being."

Happiest country in the world 2014 may seem irrelevant, but taking into consideration a country's people's happiness is a huge factor to a country's success.