The latest Gallup-Healthways global well-being ranking puts Panama — a sliver of land with one of the world's busiest shipping routes — as the place to be, along with its Central American neighbours. 

There are fewer Panamanians than people living in Sydney, but it seems they are better off even when their gross domestic product per capita is just $US11,036 ($14,265), less than a sixth that of Australia. 

Panama was followed by Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. Australia ranked 40th in the list of the 50 best-off countries, far behind the US (rank 23), New Zealand (29) and Ireland (36), but ahead of the UK (rank 44) and Russia (47).

The results are based on 146,000 interviews with adults across 145 countries and areas throughout all of last year. Participants were asked 10 questions focusing on their purpose and ambitions, their social setting and love in their lives, their finances, where they live, the pride they take in their community and how healthy and energetic they fell.

While more than 40 per cent of the Australians questioned felt well and secure in their financial situation, less than a third felt healthy or liked what they do each day, according to the survey.

On the face of it, the results may appear surprising. Isn't Puerto Rico going bankrupt? Doesn't Guatemala have one of the world's highest murder rates?

The survey is a reminder that hard cold data isn't always the best measure of how a country is doing. Nuances can get lost. For example, on finances, the question is not so much what you earn but whether you have enough of it to meet your needs and if you get stressed about it.

Take Europe: sluggish growth, few employment prospects for its youth. Yet, when it comes to their financial well-being, its citizens seem the most at peace with their lot in life.

The worst places to be were Afghanistan, Cameroon - and Bhutan,which gauges its success as a nation not through its gross economic product, but its gross national happiness.

Bloomberg with BusinessDay