Previous surveys have identified Latin America as the hub of the happiest people in the world, as shown in the results of the Gallup polls conducted in the last couple of years.

Some may also notice that Latinos are more upbeat than their Caucasian counterparts, as observed by The Huffington Post's Daniel Cubias. This is despite the fact that Latinos generally live in countries beset by economic challenges. Latin American residents also aren't some of the financially richest in the world. So, what's making them happy?

Panama's cultural attache, Laura Montenegro, attributes part of the Latino joie de vivre to strong family bonds, great landscapes, a resilient economy, and traditional values.

"Family bonds are very strong here, and on Sundays everyone still gets together," she told The Guardian. "So even when people are struggling they don't feel alone."

"We have a very beautiful landscape too and even in Panama city you never feel too far from nature," she added. "We have a booming economy and financial stability. When the global financial crisis hit, Panama came out of it even better than before, because our banks had been very cautious."

Cubias cited the Latino's positive mindset, which still kicks in even in crisis situations. This may be down to the Latin American culture that does not promote negativism in various aspects of life, according to Latin American blogger Rich Basas in an opinion piece.

Basas also pointed out that the family bond is ultimately the bedrock of Latino happiness as its presence lessens feelings of loneliness due to its built-in support system, especially in critical situations.

Further, Cubias said that research has found Latin Americans as having a certain allele in their genes that is linked to sensory pleasure and pain suppression.

"It seems that some equatorial and tropical environments select for a higher occurrence of the A allele as a counterbalance to environmental stressors," said Varna University of Management's Michael Minkov, one of the co-authors of the study, as per Science Daily.

The research also showed that those with the highest A allele prevalence are those who are most likely to consider themselves as the happiest persons. Those from Mexico and Colombia, in particular, have high A allele occurrence among those in Latin America.

Incidentally, Colombia has been named the happiest country in the world for 2015. The study somehow gave a scientific foundation to the country's track record of scoring high on the happiness index.

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