Paradise on
Earth: Costa Rica Ranked Happiest Nation
London (Reuters) - Costa Rica is very
nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers
lounging on its beaches, but for its
citizens who are extremely satisfied with
their lot and also have a tiny carbon
footprint.
The combination has earned the central
American country first place in a new Happy
Planet Index (HPI) published on Monday.
While leaders of the developed world
attending G8 talks in Italy worry away at
economic indicators like Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), deflation and their
implications for economic recovery, the
second edition of the HPI lauds alternative
standards that provide a new twist on the
old adage that wealth does not buy
happiness.
Costa Rica stands out for the highest levels
of reported life satisfaction, a long life
expectancy of 78.5 years and because 99
percent of its energy comes from renewable
sources.
Latin American nations generally fare well,
bagging nine out of 10 of the top spots and
Sub-Saharan Africa performs very badly, with
Zimbabwe taking bottom place. It scores 16.6
out of 100, compared with Costa Rica's HPI
total of 76.1, according to an advance copy
of the report.
Somewhere in between are the world's
wealthiest economies.
The United States is placed 114th out of the
143 nations surveyed, with an HPI result of
30.7 and was found to be "greener and
happier" 10 years ago than today--as were
China and India, ranked respectively 20th
and 35th, with scores of 57.1 and 53.
Economic growth
"Following the siren's song of economic
growth has delivered only marginal benefits
to the world's poorest while undermining the
basis of their livelihoods," said Nic Marks
of the New Economic Foundation, a
London-based "think and do tank" that
pursues "real economic well-being" and is
the brains behind the HPI.
"What's more it hasn't notably improved the
well-being of those who were already rich,
or even provided economic stability."
The aim, Marks said, was "to break the
spell" and work towards "a high well-being,
low-carbon economy before our high-consuming
lifestyles plunge us into the chaos of
irreversible climate change."
To measure the efficiency with which
countries convert the earth's finite
resources into their citizens' well-being,
the HPI takes three separate
indicators--ecological footprint,
life-satisfaction and life-expectancy--and
then carries out complex calculations.
First published in 2006 as "a radical
departure from our current obsession with
GDP", the HPI's sums have been criticised
for not taking sufficient account of issues
such as political freedom, but the index has
also found followers.
Within two days of the launch of the first
HPI, it was downloaded and read in 185
countries worldwide.
Among those who have taken up the idea are
David Cameron, leader of Britain's
opposition Conservative political party, and
the European Commission has launched a
programme "Beyond GDP" in pursuit of ways to
measure progress better adapted to our age.
Anyone can calculate their own HPI though
the Happy Planet Index website.
www.happyplanetindex.org
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