This is a paragraph that Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times, mentioned about his trip to Costa Rica: “There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used.

For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations.”