HAPPY PLANET INDEX

The HAPPY PLANET INDEX is a site that takes into account the well being of people in all the nations of the world while taking into account their environmental impact. It therefore orders countries against one another on account of their overall happiness. It is a fantastic tool as it shows the ecological efficient with which human well being is delivered around the world.

It is the first ever index to combine environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with which country by country, people live long and happy lives. The second compilation of the global HPI, published in July 2009, shows that we are still far from achieving sustainable well-being and puts forward a vision of what we need to do to get there.

Although it doesn't reveal the 'happiest' country in the world, it shows the relative efficient with which nations convert the planet’s natural resources into long and happy lives for their citizens.  The nations that score well show that achieving, long, happy lives without over-stretching the planet’s resources is possible.

The HPI shows that around the world, high levels of resource consumption do not reliably produce high levels of well-being, and that it is possible to produce high well-being without excessive consumption of the Earth’s resources. It also reveals that there are different routes to achieving comparable levels of well-being. The model followed by the West can provide widespread longevity and variable life satisfaction, but it does so only at a vast and ultimately counter-productive cost in terms of resource consumption.

Costa Rica in Central America tops the leader board and having visited it when I was 13 I can certainly vouch for its happiness and fantastic atmosphere!