I honestly feel that the majority of people in Western countries don't know day to day happiness.
i don't necessarily believe that people down there are happier on average, because i know that many are not. but, i have noticed that latin americans seem to have the latitude to take more joy and passion in their daily lives. and i think that if the two can be separated, people are more content on average there than they are here.
not everything is a business transaction, and it isn't necessarily desirable for someone to be spending their time clawing their way through the world. there's less of a culture of marketing/advertising creating new problems for people and offering products to solve them, too.
[1]https://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherma...
I've never been to India, though the Northern regions are high on my list of must-visits!