World's Happiest Nations

[nowonmai]

My dog is happy - that's cos he's thick as shit.

[Heretic]

My dog is happy - that's cos he's thick as shit.

So, by your rational, the Africans and Arabs are happier than the Latinos. Oh, wait...

[friendlyskies]

I've read about this in those pop psychology articles, they call it the "Latin bonus." Basically, once you correct for income, education, and other environmental factors, Latinos (even US Latinos) always come out happiest.

The Latin bonus usually attributed to being part of a culture that's more family- and community-oriented, more religious, more kid-tolerant, more savings-oriented, and which values art, music, and partying. Makes sense to me.

[friendlyskies]

Honestly, I think Costa Ricans *are* really happy. Maybe it's that Latin bonus thing, at least partially. But here are a few other possible reasons why it's just awesome being Tico:

1. Costa Ricans are very socialist with their health care, education, transport, and housing. You're taken care of. People abuse the system, sure, but hardly anyone is against socialized medicine (keep in mind that excellent private care is available to folks with money, though they still pay for guaranteed basic coverage). So people aren't stressed about losing everything because grandma gets cancer.

2. Costa Ricans are very socially liberal. They're probably going to legalize gay marriage, prostitution is legal, guns are legal, drugs and abortion are technically illegal but rarely prosecuted, traffic laws are free-form, the press is probably freer than the USA's. So people aren't stressed about some morality police breathing down their necks, like in the Middle East.

3. They live in Costa Rica.



4. They eat really healthy and exercise *a lot.* None of that fried pork with tortillas, cheese and beer, like Mexico. Which is sort of a tragedy, if you like Mexican food, but in the long run healthy people are happier. Think Northern California or Colorado.



5. The gap between rich and poor is big enough to allow large private investments - for instance, their huge pineapple and coffee plantations, which are impossible where '60s-style land reforms limit property size. But that gap is much narrower than in other Latin America countries, there's an actual middle class. Why bother having a class war if everyone's pretty happy with the current distribution of wealth?



6. Being the most democratic, ecologically sound country in the hemisphere is a tremendous source of pride, and smugness. But it's undeniably awesome. Brazil has soccer, the USA has freedom, France has haute cuisine... and Costa Rica has rainforests. Almost 30% of the country protected from development. I've watched the government shut down two five-star Occidental properties at the height of high season because they were dumping waste in a coral reef. I've seen them shut down a gold mine. And protect sloths, baby sea turtles. 857 species of bird (more than Europe), a quarter of the world's bees, etc etc...that's just cool. Best of all, they proved that even a poor little country could do it; who here can say their country has fewer resources than Costa Rica? Not many. If you're going to have a superiority complex, it might as well be about saving the rainforest using ingenuity, savvy advertising, and greatest zip line canopy tours in the world.

[Stiv]

One of thier volcanos blowing it's lid could impact that happiness just a tad.

~Stiv

[lightstalker]

Poor mans paradise

[friendlyskies]

Poor mans paradise

Hey now. Rich people live here, too. Giselle Bundchen, Mel Gibson, and some computer zillionaire who owns half of the Papagayo Project (its centerpiece one of the world's best Four Seasons), for starters.

And now we're going to have peace talks! That is exactly the kind of drama Ticos love. Our Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Arias is going to mediate negotiations between obese Honduran retards Zelaya and Micheletti, for great justice. Arias is going to fix everything, because his IQ is like double theirs put together, and magical peace rainbows are going to radiate out from his butt to every corner of the world so humans will never need to have wars again, except in the Middle East where it's a tradition. Costa Rican Smugness factor: 9 million and rising. Plus they're kicking ass in World Cup qualifying. It's going to be so happy here soon that I might need to vacation in Detroit or London, to recover.

[dawud]

zip-line canopy tours and eco-friendly Costa Ricans are cool, but I think the always-smiling Filipinos (the majority of them) must be either the happiest people or "the happiest aggregate swarm of humanity determined to outbreed all others" - whatever that award is...

[vagabond]

The Colbert Nation didn't make the list?

[Bobby Sands]

Any "list" that doesn't place America at the top of a Happiest Nations list is bullshit.

Fuck turles, and rice and beans, and fucking hippies sliding down ropes in malariaville.

This is America:

[Bobby Sands]

[denise]

c'mon, bobby, everybody knows that you hate america.

i wonder when they will start teaching devolution in school.

[Ultra Swain]

[LechoZX]

Speaking of deep, it is not advisable to partake in Malawi prostitutes, from what I hear. Not only are most of them ridden with multiple nasty diseases, but apparently there is not much sensation because the local vaginas are apparently bigger and/or deeper than the average vaginas of the region (Zambian, Mozambiquan, etc). I realize that this is somewhat off-topic, but you sort of prompted me in a manner of speaking.

Yes, it was off topic, and completely uncalled for. You can try to blame cold, if you must.

C'mon. This is the type of travel advice I come here for.

Where else can one disucss the locational relative hotdog/hallway width ratios of African prostitutes?

[Penta]

Where else can one disucss the locational relative hotdog/hallway width ratios of African prostitutes?

I'm not the best person to ask, Mr Lecho. :)