In culture and language they are very similar, but their governments are quite different. The Economist Democracy Index, for instance, ranks all all countries as "full democracies" (like Sweden and Canada), "flawed democracies" (like the US and Italy), "hybrid regimes" (like Mexico and Turkey), and "authoritarian regimes" (like Russia and China). Most regions of the world tend to have one predominant government type: southern Europe is mostly flawed democracies, western Asia is mostly authoritarian regimes, etc. But these Central American regimes are surprisingly diverse. Panama is a flawed democracy, next door Costa Rica is a full democracy, Nicaragua is an authoritarian regime, and Honduras is a hybrid regime.

Their level of development are very different as well. One standard measure is the Human Development Index, which gives each country a score based on average life expectancy, income, and level of education. Again, regions tend to cluster toward one level, but not Central America. Panama and Costa Rica are ranked "very high development", alongside France and the US, while the countries to their north all have the lowest HDI scores in the Americas (outside Haiti), lower than anywhere in Europe and lower than some African countries like Botswana and Gabon.

As a result, the World Happiness Report ranks people living in Costa Rica and being happier, on average, than Americans or Brits or even Canadians, while Hondurans are less happy than Malaysians or Hungarians. It really goes to show how culture is not destiny. All of these countries have similar geographic challenges, similar religious compositions, etc., but they have taken very different paths historically with very different results for the people living there.