Kangaroo

According to a lot of indexes, Latin America is the happiest place on earth. Though poor, people seem to generally enjoy life. See: http://univisionnews.tumblr.com/post/25175114944/latin-america-happiness-index-costa-rica I have a friend who is currently living in Europe, and has lived in several Latin American countries, he can confirm that people there are just happier day to day, although they have much less money. Any idea why that is the case? We could learn a bit. Maybe while still keeping a higher degree of capitalism and freedom ;D

Thank you all for your answers, they made selfishness and egoism a bit clearer to me. But I have a lot more reading to do. But thanks!

Could someone explain selfishness to me a little more? Especially with this example: People around are just irrational. It would be easy to start a cult or religious sect where people would give me money. Why is that not selfish? I know it is not. But I am somehow superficial in my understanding. Thanks!