Uruguay is the happiest country in South America, according to the 2026 World Happiness Report

Uruguay ranks as the happiest country in South America, according to the World Happiness Report 2026, where it ranks 31st globally.

Scoring 6.635 on the life evaluation scale, the country leads the region, ahead of Brazil (32nd) and Argentina (44th), consolidating its position as one of South America’s highest well-being environments.

The regional map shows a closely grouped set of South American countries in the middle of the global ranking. Behind Uruguay are Brazil, Argentina, and Chile (50), followed by Paraguay (57), Ecuador (59), Colombia (68), Peru (72), Bolivia (78), and Venezuela (80).

At the Latin American level, Costa Rica maintains the lead, ranking fourth globally, followed by Mexico (12). In this broader context, Uruguay ranks among the countries with the highest well-being in Latin America, placing it in the group of top performers.

These results align with Uruguay’s existing standing in other international indicators related to stability, institutional strength, and transparency, reinforcing its profile as a reliable country with clear rules and favorable conditions for living and undertaking projects.

The report, prepared by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in collaboration with Gallup and the United Nations, measures people’s perceptions of their quality of life based on individual assessments of their lives as a whole.

This indicator is based on factors such as social support, income, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make decisions, generosity, and perceptions of corruption—variables that account for much of the variation in well-being across countries.

Within this framework, Latin America exhibits a distinctive feature: several countries report levels of life satisfaction higher than those predicted by their economic indicators, a phenomenon associated with the strength of social ties. Uruguay stands out within this group due to the consistency of its results and the stability of its institutional and social conditions.

This performance takes on greater significance in a global context where especially in developed economies, a decline in well-being lifestyle is observed, particularly among young people. In the face of these trends, Uruguay maintains a solid and stable position.

On the international stage, the ranking continues to be led by Nordic countries, with Finland in first place for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Iceland and Denmark. In this context, Uruguay strengthens its position as a regional benchmark for happiness and as a country that offers favorable conditions for living, developing, and planning for the long term.