What makes Belize one of the happiest countries in the world

We can think of a few instances that conjure sheer, uninterrupted joy. It might be gently setting homemade fry jack dough into hot oil and satisfying your anticipation of it “puffing up” into picture-perfect gold! Or, being close (enough) for comfort to a Hawksbill sea turtle, gently gliding above the Belize Barrier Reef. But sharing a laugh—and $3 worth of roadside tacos—with your tour guide and fellow commuters as fuel to soon summit a Maya temple also comes to mind. After all, Belize has long been hailed for its warm, friendly hospitality, and now, research is backing that claim up. 

For the first time, Belize cracked the top 25 of the 2025 World Happiness Report, ranking 25th and becoming the third country in Latin America & the Caribbean! In fact, out of the top 20, only seven countries have been getting happier year on year, and Belize stands out as having one of the most noteworthy changes on the index. We can lobby that fry jacks, turtles, and roadside tacos might’ve had something to do with the scoring, but the World Happiness Report also takes other key factors into (formal) account, from GDP per capita to social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make choices, and even community generosity. 

They certainly contribute, but in Belize’s case, ecotourism is a key factor.

In the realm of tourism, accommodations are striving to educate visitors about sustainability and the daily rhythms of Belizean life through boutique, family-owned, or women-owned businesses. Tourism—whether directly or indirectly—contributes toward nearly half of every Belizean’s bread and butter at 46% GDP; it’s why, regardless of a relatively small population of around 400,000, Belize has made strides to protect wild spaces and their ecological footprints. With GDP per capita sharply rising since 2020, studies show residents have a greater feeling for an equal shot at happiness: an important overall indicator of well-being. The report found that inequality of well-being has a larger effect on overall happiness than inequality of income. Especially as visitor numbers continue to grow, year over year, safeguarding livelihoods also means safeguarding our contentment. We’d like to think that more than just a bit of our happiness rubs off on each visitor, with each inherently Belizean interaction. 

However, there’s yet another factor that predates even its government or modern-day tourism boom: Belize’s biodiversity, in both cultural and environmental landscapes. That’s because ultimately, two of Belize’s greatest strengths have a lot to do with the nation’s placement on this year’s World Happiness Report: proximity to nature and an inclusive community spirit.

Add in Belize’s vibrant cultural scene—a literal tapestry of ethnicities from Maya to Creole and Garifuna to Mennonite—capitalizing on stunning natural beauty, from rain-carved underground cave systems to the biodiverse Maya Mountains and hundreds of coral-speckled isles—it’s a lot easier to feel hopeful about what the future holds. Work-life balance feels far more effortless compared to the token hours-long traffic in a developed country’s rat race, when the cayes are a mere 45-minute (or less)  sprint from the mainland, or urban green spaces (including national parks!) are within city limits. After all, it’s hard not to crack a smile hearing zzzzz echoing off the treetops of the rainforest while strapped into a zipline, or when spotting the snout of a manatee surfacing for a big breath as you kayak over gin-clear shallows.  

Homemade Happiness: Over Meals, and Between Friends Like Family 

But there’s new evidence on another understudied measure of social connection: sharing meals. Meals have long brought people together, but science on happiness now further connects people over food across ages, genders, countries, cultures, and regions. Food ultimately feeds our spirits: not just for societal health, but happiness at large. That includes family-style meals, even if you’ve got no blood relatives across the table from you, whether at your favorite mom-and-pop vendor or picnic table bites on a shared tour, and if you’ve ever stepped into the homes or restaurants of Belizean cooks. With recipes passed down through the generations, happiness is crafted—by hand—somewhere between caring and sharing.

Living with others, sharing a meal, and supporting your fellow countrymen ultimately build community, and resilient communities equal happier people. Countries where people share relatively more meals tend to display higher levels of social support and positive reciprocity, plus lower levels of loneliness. Sound familiar? Did we mention there are no fast food franchises in Belize? 

Latin American societies, like our small Central American nation, are characterized by larger household sizes and strong family bonds. They offer valuable lessons for other societies that seek to enrich relational satisfaction, since for most, family is a source of joy and support. It’s why Belize ranks third overall for Latin America, behind Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th), respectively. Larger households predict higher happiness levels, sustained by warm, close, and enduring relational bonds. Family bonds promote lasting relationships, and at home, these bonds develop and, in many cases, thrive. So when we say we’ll treat you like family in Belize, we mean it. Ready to become happier, too? Belize awaits.