Brazil climbs three positions in the ranking of population happiness

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil rose three places in the ranking of 146 countries that measure their populations’ happiness, going from position number 41 to 38.

Brazil is below Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Panama but ahead of Chile, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, among Latin American nations. The data were released on Friday, March 18, by the World Happiness Report.

The director of Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) Social, Marcelo Neri, who studies the topic, assesses that Brazil has not yet recovered from the fall in the ranking, which has been coming since 2014.

Brazil reached the 14th position in the ranking in 2014.

Finland remains at the top of the list. The first eight positions are from the northern countries in Europe, such as Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. FGV researcher Marcelo Neri points out that these countries take turns at the top of the list because they combine social equality with economic development.

This survey asks people to rate, on a scale of zero to ten, their satisfaction with life, health, education, and whether they have had negative or positive feelings in the last few days, among other questions.

Neuropsychologist Juliana Gebrim points out that the feeling of well-being reflects people’s routines and habits, besides being influenced by the environment.

The countries with the worst happiness indexes are Afghanistan, last on the list, followed by Lebanon, also in the Middle East, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda, both in Africa.

With information from Agência Brasil

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.