World Well-Being Rankings: Panama No. 1 for Second Year in a Row

The world well-being rankings have Panama topping the list for the second year in a row in 2014 while the U.S. fell from No. 12 to No. 23, according to a new Gallup global index published on Tuesday.

The 2014 Country Well-being Rankings Report published by Gallup examined the responses of more than 146,000 people in 145 countries to questions pertaining to their well-being in five major areas: purpose, social, financial, community, and physical. The countries were also considered to be thriving, struggling, or suffering in each of those five areas after answering the questions, according to Live Science. If a country thrived in three or more of those areas, it subsequently received a higher ranking.

Of the top 10 highest ranking countries, the Americas represented seven countries on the list with Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Belize, Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico. The other three in the top 10 included Switzerland in fourth, Denmark in seventh, and Austria in a tie with Mexico for ninth, according to NPR.

The least thriving countries on the list included many sub-Saharan African countries, and the five lowest ranking countries included Tunisia, Togo, Cameroon, Bhutan, and Afghanistan as the lowest of all, according to the report. Gallup also noted that higher well-being levels are usually associated with outcomes that indicate stability and resilience, such as healthcare, trust in elections and local institutions, lower daily stress levels, and a supportive community environment.

In response to the Americas’ high representation at the top of the list, Dan Witters, the research director at Gallup-Healthways, noted that Latin American countries tend to report experiencing positive emotions more often than negative emotions in comparison with people in other parts of the world, according to Live Science.

“There's lots of smart tactical things that organizations can do that can help create this culture of well-being,” Witters told Live Science, such as instilling a higher sense of community through encouraging support and participation in organized social activities.

Despite the U.S. experiencing a slip in rankings from the previous year, Witters said that the “decline in well-being was not substantial” overall, according to Live Science.

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