Are Costa Ricans really the Happiest people in the World?

Many an international study and op-ed claim, Costa Rican's are the happiest people in the world. Even the government of Costa Rica proudly displays billboards advertising how happy the people of Costa Rica are. So why is it I found myself questioning the supposed happiness of an entire country? Is it my own skepticism regarding happiness or is it my first hand experience in Costa Rica and the rest of the Central American region? I imagine at the core it is both and I saw this with good reason.

After seeing unprecedented poverty in Hondouras and the rustic simplicity of Guatemalan life, I can see how Costa Rican's(Ticos) more modern and less impoverished life style can lead to an increase in happiness. However, I question whether or not this happiness is universal among all Ticos. I heard about and saw more petty crime against travelers in Costa Rica than anywhere else in the region. I felt less welcome and less safe in small villages and on public transportation. I experienced the dollar sign effect, where a local would see me and assume only one thing, I had money and was stupid enough to spend it naively. I question the level of happiness of any society that has high rates of crime, particularly petty crime, which is often associated with poverty; poverty in turn is linked to unhappiness.

An entire population that in the past thirty years of tourism has lost its cultural identity to a westernized hospitality culture, dependent on tips for their income. Tour buses wind up and down the narrow roadways showing visitors only the chosen sections of the country, glossing over the real Costa Rica. After visiting Nicaragua and Panama, a few years behind, but developing economically along side Costa Rica, the Disneyland-ifacation of the country is all too apparent. Tourism is the main industry leaving traditional farming and crafts aside. I found many supposed Tico crafts that were made in Guatemala or worse yet, China. Those working in service, hospitality and tourism are less than thrilled by their daily existence. I overheard one woman telling her coworkers in Spanish, that if she had to help on more fat American book a jungle tour she was going to vomit, again making me wonder, how happy are Ticos?

My skepticism and perhaps jealousy, questioning the reality of Costa Rican happiness does nothing to change to numerous articles, reports and billboards claiming the happiest people in the world live in Costa Rica. So, here is something everyone can be happy about. Sloths, they are amazing and if something in Costa Rica is truly 100% happy it is probably this slow moving furry tree dweller.