According to the “Happy Planet Index,” Costa Rica is home to the most contented people on Earth. In addition to happiness, the index also factors in ecological footprint and life expectancy. (( “Costa Rica Tops List of ‘Happiest’ Nations.” CNN.com World5 July 2009 Web.7 Jul 2009. <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html>. ))
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Top Ten Happy Nations
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Established by London-based New Economics Foundation, the index started evaluating countries in 2006, when the number one happy country was Vanuatu, followed closely by Columbia and Costa Rica. In the 2009 listing, the top ten countries in the list are all in the Western Hemisphere and south of Mexico, except for Vietnam, which holds position five. The are listed to the right.
The United Kingdom, which was 108 last year has advanced to 74. Of the 29 bottom-of-the-list countries, all are in Africa except for Luxembourg (122), United Arab Emirates (123), and Kuwait (128). Next to them, at number 30 from the bottom and 114 from the top is the United States. (( Wikipedia contributors, “Happy Planet Index.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2009. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Web.7 Jul 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Happy_Planet_Index&oldid=300746294>. ))
Is this important?
Is this something we should pay attention to.
Is it, in any way, the responsibility of our education system,
to help our children,
our citizens,
to be happy?
Of course, if you don’t like bugs, then Costa Rica may not be the place for you.
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Actually, if you read the report, you’ll find that Costa Rica has the highest happiness efficiency. That it, it achieves the highest rate of happiness (measured as a combination of life expectancy and life satisfaction) per unit of environmental impact.
If you’re measuring pure happiness, without regard to environmental impact, then your choices are Nnorway and Denmark, at 8.1, followed by Canada and Finland, at 8.0.
You can actually find the study directly under this link http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ instead of searching fruitlessly in the link provided in the post above.
Thanks, Stephen. This study continues to be on my mind — and yet another indication of how we continue to limit our world view to our own cultures and values.
Just got back from Costa Rica and found the nature of the people sincerely friendly. The only army you’ll find is an army of ants. No military forces in Costa Rica. If you like to learn about the tropical ecosystems visit Costa Rica….amazing place!
I wonder culturally what these ten countries have in common?
What is interesting about this survey is the top of the list is not necessarily “Western G8 sorta” like. Maybe this is telling, commenting, to us that ‘Rich’ nations are not necessarliy happy nations.. just a thought
This is a gross generalization, the countries in the list would likely not be at the top of the lists of places that many American’s would want to visit.
Should we help our children, our citizens to be happy? Happy in the sense that they can begin to know their identity within a social context, to set a meaningful direction for their lives, and to be empowered to cultivate their strengths and vital interests.
So I suppose all those folks trying to emigrate from these places weren’t included in the survey?
I looked at the hpi last summer (or the summmer before?) and I think, at the time, Vanuatu was rated no.1. Nice to see the country I just left,(Dominican Republic) move up in the list.
In my opinion, to answer your question: “Is it, in any way, the responsibility of our education system,to help our children,our citizens,to be happy?” I would have to answer with a resounding “YES”. After all, what’s the purpose of education? Many believe it’s to create wealth and that that’s the ultimate sign of success. But they are missing 2/3 of the puzzle: besides economic well-being, we need social well-being, and environmental well-being–all which then lead to personal well-being (http://www.ed4wb.org/?page_id=7) (From NEF’s idea on how to produce personal well-being).
Interesting work happening over there at NEF. Wish they got more press. Thanks for writing about it.