South American countries are the world’s “happiest”

Research consultancy The Gallup Institute carries out an annual investigation into how happy people are in each country, by conducting telephone interviews with 1,000 inhabitants from around the world. The researchers question people, for example, on what interesting things they have learned lately or how often they experienced positive emotions.

The results show that South American countries are home to the happiest people, with nine in the top 10. The only exception is Denmark, in 8th place with a score of 82, meaning that 82% of the Danish population surveyed could be considered “happy”. The absolute winner is Paraguay with a score of 87. Belgium scores relatively happy at 75, while the least happy country is Syria with a score of 36.