Costa Rica is the happiest country in Latin America, according to the World Happiness Report 2023. We’re also ranked third happiest in America and 23rd in the world. Each year, this study is carried out by over 100 specialists.
Our score was 6,609 out of 10,000. That’s up 26 points from last year but down from the 7,070 we got in 2021. We got 1,195 points less than Finland and 4,750 points more than Afghanistan, which is 137th, or last, place. The average rating was 5,540 points. Canada got 6,961 and the U.S. got 6,894.
Ticos ranked high in certain areas and on certain questions. 87.2%, for example, said they had someone to turn to in case of problems. 89.5% said they felt free to make decisions. 76.8%, however, said they lived in a corrupt country.
Other considerations factored into this happiness survey include healthy life expectancy (70 years), per capita GDP ($9,952), and generosity (the question on which Ticos ranked the worst).
In the future, we hope to see the survey take more into account, such as violence, accidents, and mental health attention in each country.
