Happy Planet Index

[mikelele-old]

Got this in my emial today and thought I'd share it - it's pretty interesting...

Thursday, July 13, 2006

RP 17th happiest country in survey

LONDON: The Philippines is the 17th happiest country on Earth,
according to a study published Wednesday that measured people's well-
being and their impact on the environment.
The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest
in the Happy Planet Index, compiled by the British think-tank New
Economics Foundation.
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five.
The index gave no specifics on the Philippines.
Other selected countries: Indonesia 23rd; China 31; Thailand 32nd;
Malaysia 44th; India 62nd; Iceland 64th; Netherlands 70th; Spain
87th; Hong Kong 88th; Saudi Arabia 89th; Denmark 99th; Pakistan
112th; Norway 115th; Sweden 123rd; Finland 123rd; Australia 139th;
UAE 154th; South Africa; 156th; Kuwait 159th; Qatar 166th.
Island nations performed particularly well in the rankings. But
Vanuatu, with a population of around 200,000, topped them all.
"Don't tell too many people, please," said Marke Lowen of Vanuatu
Online, the republic's online newspaper.
"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied
with very little," he told The Guardian.
"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community
and family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you
don't worry too much."
"The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes."
The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and
environmental footprintтАФthe amount of land required to sustain the
population and absorb its energy consumption.
Zimbabwe came bottom of the 178 countries ranked, below second-worst
performer Swaziland, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Ukraine.
The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in Moscow this weekend but
have not much to smile about, according to the index.
Italy came out best in 66th place, ahead of Germany (81), Japan
(95), Britain (108), Canada (111), France (129), the United States
(150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.
Andrew Simms, the foundation's policy director, said the
index "addresses the relative success or failure of countries in
giving their citizens a good life while respecting the environmental
resource limits on which all our lives depend."
Nic Marks, the center's head for well-being, added: "It is clear
that no single nation listed in the Happy Planet Index has got
everything right.
"But the index does reveal patterns that show how we might better
achieve long and happy lives for all, whilst living within our
environmental means," he said, according to British daily The
Guardian.
"The challenge is: can we learn the lessons and apply them?"
--AFP

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Gosh - I wonder if that's the same "Index" already covered in http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/fo ... php?t=8526