Happiness is relative.
We, in the so-called civilised world should know this. wertyi13 is quite correct. Struggling for the basics in life is of course viewed by us as sad, after all you are only considered a worthwhile person if you've made enough money not to have to. It's pathetic. No, these people who struggle do not necessarily spend their lives in misery, i should imagine most of them have a far higher level of happiness than we do. After all, it's the things that money can't buy that give real and lasting pleasure, something many of us seem to have lost sight of.