Thursday, June 25, 2015. BMG: The second annual Gallup-Healthways 2014 Country Well-Being Rankings Report gives high marks to several countries in the Americas, including Belize.
Belize ranks fifth behind Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Switzerland, and ahead of Chile, Denmark, Guatemala, Austria and Mexico.
According to the organization Healthways International in a statement, “The Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index uses a holistic definition of well-being and self-reported data from individuals across the globe to create a unique view of societies’ progress on the elements that matter most to well-being: purpose, social, financial, community and physical.
It is the most proven, mature and comprehensive measure of well-being in populations.”
Gallup looked at how people in 145 countries and areas, about 146,000 interviewees, respond to questions about five areas related to their well-being: purpose; social; financial; community; and physical.
Persons were asked ten questions: Do you like what you do every day? Do you learn or do something interesting every day? Does someone in your life always encourage you to be healthy? Do your friends and family give you positive energy every day?Do you have enough money to do everything you want to do? Have you worried about money in the last seven days? Is the city or area where you live a perfect place for you? Have you received recognition for helping to improve the city or area where you live in the last year? Have you felt active and productive every day in the last seven days? Is your physical health near perfect?
Only about 1 in six adults worldwide positively answered these questions.
Belizeans are thriving in purpose (41.2%), social (48.8%), community (49.3%) and physical (44.%), ranking in the top ten in each of these categories, but are not doing so well financially.
The United States is ranked twenty-third and in general Latin American countries did well and are expected to have higher levels of personal happiness.
Afghanistan is ranked last, with no one believing they thrived in several categories. But some countries not at war, such as Croatia and Singapore, also fared badly in the poll.