Happy Planet Index

Hi Everyone, Some of you might be interested in the Happy Planet Index (HPI) that we learnt about it this week when we were approving Rosangela Silva's This Australian Life blog for our Expat Women Blog Directory.

It is not an index of the happiest people or places, but it is an index which aims to measure "what truly matters to us - our well-being in terms of long, happy and meaningful lives - and what matters to the planet - our rate of resource consumption".

Here are the Top 10 countries on the Happy Planet Index:

1. Costa Rica;
2. Dominican Republic;
3. Jamaica;
4. Guatemala;
5. Vietnam;
6. Colombia;
7. Cuba;
8. El Salvador;
9. Brazil; and
10. Honduras.

The positions of other countries of interest include:

53. Sweden;

74. United Kingdom;

75. Japan;

89. Canada;

102. Australia;

103. New Zealand;

114. United States; and

123. United Arab Emirates.

143. (Last position) Zimbabwe

"Download the new report The Happy Planet Index 2.0: Why good lives don’t have to cost the Earth, first published in July 2009. The report presents the results of the second global compilation of the Happy Planet Index, based on improved data for 143 countries around the world – representing 99 per cent of the world’s population. The results show that globally we are still far from achieving good lives within the Earth’s finite resource limits. But although the evidence shows that we are heading in the wrong direction, the achievements of some countries around the world provide reasons to believe that we can achieve true sustainable well-being."

Have a great day/evening! Andrea