Latin America and Well-Being

Abstract

The well-being situation of Latin Americans can be considered as favorable, and it contrasts to the many problems in the region as portrayed by socio-political and economic indicators. Latin America is commonly characterized as a region with weak political institutions, high corruption, high violence and crime rates, very unequal distribution of income, and high poverty rates. The high life satisfaction reported by Latin Americans indicates that there are other drivers of well-being which have not received the deserved attention. The Latin American case shows that the abundance of person-based interpersonal relationships is an important driver of well-being; policy-makers and governments from other regions of the world should incorporate this driver into their policy framework.