The happiest place is ?

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This month Afar magazine (afar.com) had a report that they titled The Pursuit of Happiness.  They wrote about the Gallup Poll that surveys citizens of 150 countries to rate their overall quality of life.  The results showed people in Denmark were happiest and those in Togo, the least.  (the US was #11).  Other researchers, at the New Economic Foundation  found that in their survey, the Happy Planet Index, (http://www.happyplanetindex.org)  found different results.  Costa Rica ranked # 1 and most of the countries in the top 10 were from Latin America.  

Was that a new reality or did the culture of these countries with a communication pattern that says one should  always say something positive, shape the responses?  That’s a question discussed in a December by the Huffington Post.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/happiest-people-on-planet-latin-america_n_2336772.html.)   What do these surveys tell us about planning, running countries, where we should live?    We still wonder - who are the happiest people?