Don't worry, be happy...in Costa Rica

July 8, 10:03 AMFamilies Living Abroad ExaminerLucy Culpepper

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Families Living Abroad Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Costa Rican children celebrating Independence Day

Drum roll please... the winner of this year's Happy Planet Index is...Costa Rica

Unlike many indices of how well a country is performing, this index takes into consideration how the peoples of the world are feeling rather than their performance.

The index is based on three criteria:
 
Life Expectancy
Life Satisfaction
Carbon Footprint
 
This is second global ranking of the ecological efficiency with which the world’s nations deliver long and happy lives for their citizens. Although the name 'Happy Planet Index' may conjure up a less than significant report it is in fact quite the opposite. This is an index that challenges conventional reporting on world progress and looks beyond the usual measures such as GDP.
 
The top country this year is Costa Rica with sub-region of 'Central America, Mexico and the Carribean' coming out top of the world. (2nd place went to the Dominican Republic and 3rd place to Jamaica).
 
"Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources."
 
"Latin America dominates the top of the index. Nine of the ten top-scoring nations on the Index are in Latin America. The highest-ranking G20 country in terms of HPI is Brazil, in 9th place out of 143 nations."
 
Top 20 Happy Countries countries in the World:

1. Costa Rica
2. Dominican Republic
3. Jamaica
4. Guatemala
5. Vietnam
6. Colombia
7. Cuba
8. El Salvador
9. Brazil
10. Honduras
11. Nicaragu
12. Egypt
13. Saudi Arabia
14. Philippines
15. Argentina
16. Indonesia
17. Bhutan
18. Panama
19. Laos
20. China

The full report can be read at The Happy Planet Index

Find out more about living in Costa Rica this week here at this site.

For more information about Families Living Abroad, Living in France, Living in Spain, Living in Costa Rica, Living in Panama and Living in the UK please email lucy@culpepperink.com or visit www.culpepperink.com