Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

[khall64au]

Who's happiest? Not us

July 12, 2006 - 2:22PM

The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest country on Earth, according to a study measuring people's wellbeing and their impact on the environment.

Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five in the Happy Planet Index, compiled by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF).

Australia is ranked 139th out of the 178 countries surveyed.

The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint - the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption.

Zimbabwe came bottom of the rankings, below second-worst performer Swaziland, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine in the survey, published today.

The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in St Petersburg 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).

Those worse off than Australia included the United States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.

Andrew Simms, NEF'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 head of NEF's centre for wellbeing, 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?"

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."

Selected others: 17th Philippines; 23rd Indonesia; 31st China; 32nd Thailand; 44th Malaysia; 62nd India; 64th Iceland; 70th Netherlands; 87th Spain; 88th Hong Kong; 89th Saudi Arabia; 99th Denmark; 112th Pakistan; 115th Norway; 119th Sweden; 123rd Finland; 154th UAE; 156th South Africa; 159th Kuwait; 166th Qatar.

AFP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/whos-happ...2637723783.html

[suegha]

Some interesting stats here - some suprising facts also.

[Charma]

It would interesting to see how they managed to integrate the "environmental footprint" into a survey about how happy people were. I wouldn't of necessarily thought that they went together. Smells a bit like a piece of eco-propoganda.

[usatrader]

Maybe the surprises stats are really not that surprising when you look at the criteria used in "judging happiness"...

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uk108thinh...ndex120706.aspx

* Island nations score well above average in the Index: They have higher life satisfaction, higher life expectancy and marginally lower Footprints than other states. Yet incomes (by GDP per capita) are roughly equal to the world average. Even within regions, islands do well. Malta tops the Western world with Cyprus in seventh place (out of 24); the top five HPI nations in Africa are all islands; as well as two of the top four in Asia. Perhaps a more acute awareness of environmental limits has sometimes helped their societies to bond better and to adapt to get more from less. Combined with the enhanced well-being that stems from close contact with nature, the world as a whole stands to learn much from the experience of islands.

* It is possible to live long, happy lives with a much smaller environmental impact: For example, in the United States and Germany people’s sense of life satisfaction is almost identical and life expectancy is broadly similar. Yet Germany’s Ecological Ecological footprint is only about half that of the USA. This means that Germany is around twice as efficient as the USA at generating happy long lives based on the resources that they consume.

The Happy Planet Index, an innovative new index from nef (the new economics foundation) launched on Wednesday 12 July 2006, is the first ever index to combine environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with which countries provide long and happy lives.

The HPI shows that around the world, high levels of resource consumption do not reliably produce high levels of well-being (life-satisfaction), and that it is possible to produce high levels of well-being without excessive consumption of the Earth’s resources. Key findings of the Index are:

* Self appointed world ‘leaders’ – the G8 - score generally badly in the Index: The UK comes a disappointing 108th – with the remainder of the G8 faring little, if at all, better. Italy is 66th, Germany 81st, Japan 95th, Canada 111th, France 129th, United States 150th and Russia 172nd.

* The UKmanages only 108th place in the Index: Just below Libya, but above Laos. The UK’s heavy ecological footprint, the eighteenth biggest worldwide, is to blame. But well-being in the UK is also unspectacular for a Western nation: it is beaten by countries such as Germany, the US, Costa Rica, Malta and, in top place, Switzerland.

* Central Americais the region with the highest average score in the Index: The region combines relatively good life expectancy (an average of 70 years) and high life satisfaction with an ecological footprint below its globally equitable share. Central America has had a notorious history of conflict and political instability, but the last 15 years have been relatively peaceful, which perhaps, with traditionally high levels of community engagement, explain its success.

* Countries classified by the United Nations as ‘medium human development’ come out better than both low and high-development countries: Only one ‘low-development’ country has a strong HPI score, whilst 21 per cent of countries classified as ‘highly-developed’ do. However, 44 per cent of countries with ‘medium-development’ score well. This is because, beyond a certain level, vastly increasing consumption fails to lead to greater well-being.

* Well-being is not based on high levels of consumption: For example, Estonia - with high consumption - rates poorly on well-being. And, in the Dominican Republic where well-being is high, consumption is not above a globally equitable share.

* Life satisfaction varies wildly country by country: Questioned on how satisfied they were with their life as a whole, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being ‘dissatisfied, 10 ‘satisfied’), 29.4 per cent of Zimbabweans rate themselves at 1 and only 5.7 per cent rate themselves at 10. By contrast, 28.4 per cent of Danes rate their satisfaction with life 10/10, with less than one percent rating 1.

* Life expectancy also varies wildly: Babies born in Japan can expect to live to 82, but only to 32 and a half if born in Swaziland.

* Overall, we are over-burdening the Earth’s currently available biocapacity: By consuming 22 per cent above our ecosystems’ ability to regenerate we are eating into and degrading the natural resources that our life-support systems depend on. In the process we are depleting the environmental goods and services that future generations will depend on, with potentially devastating consequences.

Then again, we see all the time, "studies" showing us what they set out to show us to begin with hey?

[thaiknot]

grew up in the nj suburbs of nyc,went to school outside boston,and lived several years in california after college,but have enjoyed living in hawaii the most.think its not just the easy-going aloha spirit or ohana (family) feel of living on the islands,but think living isolated on an island far from the continents psychologically makes the troubles of the world seem distant.plus the beautiful beaches and weather and women is sure okey dokey.

[kayo]

Guatemala 8th?

funniest thing I´ve heard all year.

47 shooting murders this months already and it´s only the 12th of the month.

that´s average.

[mittheimp]

Not quite sure how Burma gets to be above -

Uk Japan New Zealand Norway Sweden!!

I agree with Charma in that its a bit dubious to integrate environmental issues with happiness to the extent they have!

A lot of money and time went into this and essentially its bull sh**!!!!!

Edited July 12, 2006 by mittheimp

[Totster]

Some interesting stats here - some suprising facts also.

Yes... Interesting AND surprising... wonders will never cease !

totster

[diddlysquat]

So Thailand is the 32nd happiest country in the world.

I think the Thais have a lot to be grateful in having so many farangs living here. We obviously brighten their lives

So Thailand is the 32nd happiest country in the world.

I think iff all the miserable farangs were deported it would jump 15 places

Take your pick

Edited July 13, 2006 by diddlysquat

[Sing_Sling]

31st China

What utter rot! Life expectancy? Environmental Issues?

Just using the China example, their life expctancy is not that great and their respect for the environment is non-existent. The same goes for most of Asia, Africa and Latin-Anerica . . . total rubbish!

I've been to Vanuatu and their quality of life is nothing to envy.

Typical think-tanks, so devoid of reality . . .

Edited July 13, 2006 by Sing_Sling

[jdinasia]

That's a great piece of hocus pocus ......

nothing in the article made sense at all

[petecooper]

It would interesting to see how they managed to integrate the "environmental footprint" into a survey about how happy people were. I wouldn't of necessarily thought that they went together. Smells a bit like a piece of eco-propoganda.

I couldn't agree more. And I like your turn of phrase, "eco-propaganda". There is a lot of that going around lately, all in the name of being Politically Correct, of course!

There is obvious value to doing surveys of peoples' environmental impact; as there is value in measuring relative "happiness" of people in their communities. But to combine to two, it seems, is to diminish the value of either.

Edited July 13, 2006 by petecooper

[Donz]

What a load of BS.

[Sing_Sling]

Here's an extract from the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and in their assessment of Socio-Environmental performance in Vanuatu they come up with this conclusion.

11. Clear gender differences exist in Vanuatu, in terms of access to resources and entitlements. Current social, economic and political indicators highlight the disadvantaged position of women in all areas.

and

Poor nutrition of both mothers and infants is a major health concern. Girls are less likely than boys to finish their schooling, or even to continue into secondary school. Women are more likely to be involved in unpaid tasks and work, on average, 16 to 17 hours a day,

and

]14. Vanuatu ranks third to last on the Human Development Index for Pacific Island nations (HDI = 0.425 in 1999). Majority of the population live a subsistence life style in remote rural areas. The nation has persistent problems of health, education, and population. The main factors contributing to increasing poverty in Vanuatu are geographic isolation, and cultural traditions, which have made progress difficult. As of 1997, the adult literacy rate was low at 33.5 percent; life expectancy was low at 63 years for male and 66 years for female; and infant mortality was high at 45 per 1,000 live births.[/

Sounds like a lovely place . . . much better than New Zealand, Norway etc . . .

Now, the ADB is headquartered in Manila - - - possibly an Asian institution has a better idea of what's going on in their backyard than a group of boffins in a different part of the world.

Edited July 13, 2006 by Sing_Sling

[Losangels]

Not quite sure how Burma gets to be above -

Uk Japan New Zealand Norway Sweden!!

I agree with Charma in that its a bit dubious to integrate environmental issues with happiness to the extent they have!

A lot of money and time went into this and essentially its bull sh**!!!!!

Burmese live a simple life. Eventhough most are very poor except for people in the military, they are pretty much content with their overall outlook of life. The country does not have any pollution, there are huge tress everywhere, water in the lake and rivers are clean. Life is slow paced, hardly anyone in a hurry to do or go somewhere. Perhaps they do not know better about material possessions that we are accustomed to therefore are satisfied with what little they have. On the other hand, since there is little political freedom they are afraid to tell the truth.

[Sing_Sling]

Burmese live a simple life. Eventhough most are very poor except for people in the military, they are pretty much content with their overall outlook of life. The country does not have any pollution, there are huge tress everywhere, water in the lake and rivers are clean. Life is slow paced, hardly anyone in a hurry to do or go somewhere

Quite possibly this is true, but then one has to take into account literacy, infant mortality, life expectancy etc . . .

It really is a loaded topic.

[sadman]

I would imagine the most important factor here is exactly what questions were asked. I know people in the UK are habitual moaners, but I find it highly unlikely that we are less happy that the Chinese.

Also, Australia didn't strike me as a miserable or unhappy place, yet look at where it is. As someone said in an earlier post, eco-propoganda.

[Nignoy]

I would imagine the most important factor here is exactly what questions were asked. I know people in the UK are habitual moaners, but I find it highly unlikely that we are less happy that the Chinese.

Also, Australia didn't strike me as a miserable or unhappy place, yet look at where it is. As someone said in an earlier post, eco-propoganda.

Just a wee bit of topic!!Fink I qualify as Mr Happy a Pom living in Queensland 6 months of the year and the other 6 months in thailand or even in murky old Europe if we get homesick for pies that are edible and warm beer,guess what all that work in the old country has paid off, Strike 1 full english pension, Strike 2, full German state pension, strike 3, 2thirds australian age pension, from the 20th of july all tax free and an added bonus free full private medical insurance worldwide, compliments of the german government, Guess I am Mr Happy Nignoy

[Sing_Sling]

A wee bit?

[Martin]

It is eco-crap.

In all those big countries you could find geographical parts or socio-economic groups that 'measured' way above, and others that 'measured' way below, their country's average.

Averaging Bangkok with rural Thailand, for instance, is idiotic.

[thohts]

Guatemala 8th?

funniest thing I´ve heard all year.

47 shooting murders this months already and it´s only the 12th of the month.

that´s average.

I knew a girl from there whose family moved her to the US because of all the kidnappings. She wasn't that well off, but her house was bigger than normal. And that makes "rich kids" a target like there's no tomorrow.