Econintersect: Gallup and Healthways have published their findings about well-being for 145 countries from their 2014 surveys. The report, 2014 Country Well-Being Rankings, indicates that well-being is highest in the western hemisphere (the Americas) and lowest in Sub-Sarahan Africa as measured by the Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index. Six of the top ten ranked countries are in Central America and the Carribean: Panama (1), Costa Rica (2), Puerto Rico (3), Belize (5), Guatemala (8) and Mexico (10). Three of the top ten are in Europe: Switzerland (4), Denmark (7) and Austria (9). Chile (6) rounds out the top ten.
The Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index is constructed based on yes/no answers to two survey questions in each of five well-being categories:
Purpose
- You like what you do every day.
- You learn or do something interesting every day.
Social
- Someone in your life always encourages you to be healthy.
- Your friends and family give you positive energy every day.
Financial
- You have enough money to do everything you want to do.
- In the last seven days, you have worried about money.
Community
- The city or area where you live is a perfect place for you.
- In the last 12 months, you have received recognition for helping to improve the city or area where you live.
Physical
- In the last seven days, you have felt active and productive every day.
- Your physical health is near-perfect.
The global results have been displayed on a map:
The top ten and bottom ten of the 145 countries surveyed:
Click on the report cover page below to access the complete report.
Sources:
- 2014 Country Well-Being Rankings (info.healthways.com)
- Americas Lead Highs, Sub-Saharan Africa Lows in Well-Being (Gallup, 24 June 2015)