According to the latest World Values Survey, a review of life satisfaction in 82 countries and territories around the world, Puerto Rico and Mexico are the happiest places of all; three other Latin American countries rank in the top 15. “It pays to be Latin American,” says Ronald Inglehart, the director of the survey, which was last conducted between 1999 and 2001. It also helps to live in wealthy country, like Denmark, Ireland, or Iceland, which are in the top five. “People living in rich countries are happier than those living in very poor countries,” he says. But the emphasis is on very poor. The United States, one of the richest countries in the world, comes in at 15.

The survey, which was started in 1981, is conducted roughly every five years. On average, 1,400 people in each country are interviewed in person and asked about their happiness and overall life satisfaction. The survey still treats certain areas, like East and West Germany, as distinct entities, even though they are now the same country. “We do that because the cultures are still very different,” Inglehart says. Indeed, West Germans are still happier than their eastern neighbors.

Puerto Rico
Mexico
Denmark
Ireland
Iceland
Switzerland
Northern Ireland
Colombia
Netherlands
Canada
Austria
El Salvador
Venezuela
Luxembourg
United States
Australia
New Zealand
Sweden
Nigeria
Norway
Belgium
Finland
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Britain
West Germany
France
Argentina
Vietnam
Chile
Philippines
Taiwan
Dominican Republic
Brazil
Spain
Israel
Italy
East Germany
Slovenia
Uruguay
Portugal
Japan
Czech Republic
South Africa
Croatia
Greece
Peru
China
South Korea
Iran
Poland
Turkey
Bosnia
Morocco
Uganda
Algeria
Bangladesh
Egypt
Hungary
Slovakia
Jordan
Estonia
Serbia
Tanzania
Azerbaijan
Montenegro
India
Lithuania
Macedonia
Pakistan
Latvia
Albania
Bulgaria
Belarus
Georgia
Romania
Moldova
Russia
Armenia
Ukraine
Zimbabwe
Indonesia

Source: The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org).