The Happiest Places on Earth Redux

I am going to repost the findings of the British think tank New Economics Foundation on the Happiest Places on Earth Survey. Funny if you noticed that Developed Countries ranks lower than most Developing Countries on the list. Iceland comes close with rank number 64.

from its website:

nef's new global measure of progress, the 'Happy
Planet Index', reveals for the first time that happiness doesn't have
to cost the Earth. It shows that people can live long, happy lives
without using more than their fair share of the Earth's resources. The
new international ranking of the environmental impact and well-being
reveals a very different picture of the wealth, and poverty, of nations.

nef's report, 'The Happy Planet Index: An index of
human well-being and environmental impact', moves beyond crude ratings
of nations according to national income, measured by Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) to produce a more accurate picture of the progress of
nations based on the amount of the Earth's resources they use, and the
length and happiness of people's lives.

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) strips the view of the economy back to
its absolute basics: what we put in (resources), and what comes out
(human lives of different length and happiness). The resulting Index of
the 178 nations for which data is available, reveals that the world as
a whole has a long way to go. In terms of delivering long and
meaningful lives within the Earth's environmental limits - all nations
could do better. No country achieves an overall 'high' score on the
Index, and no country does well on all three indicators.

Rank	Country	Life Sat	Life Exp	EF	HPI
Reasonable ideal		8.2	82.0	1.5	83.5

1	Vanuatu	7.4	68.6	1.1	68.2
2	Colombia	7.2	72.4	1.3	67.2
3	Costa Rica	7.5	78.2	2.1	66.0
4	Dominica	7.3	75.6	1.8	64.6
5	Panama	7.2	74.8	1.8	63.5
6	Cuba	6.3	77.3	1.4	61.9
7	Honduras	7.2	67.8	1.4	61.8
8	Guatemala	7.0	67.3	1.2	61.7
9	El Salvador	6.6	70.9	1.2	61.7
10	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	7.2	71.1	1.7	61.4
11	Saint Lucia	7.0	72.4	1.6	61.3
12	Vietnam	6.1	70.5	0.8	61.2
13	Bhutan	7.6	62.9	1.3	61.1
14	Samoa (Western)	6.9	70.2	1.4	61.0
15	Sri Lanka	6.1	74.0	1.1	60.3
16	Antigua and Barbuda	7.4	73.9	2.3	59.2
17	Philippines	6.4	70.4	1.2	59.2
18	Nicaragua	6.3	69.7	1.1	59.1
19	Kyrgyzstan	6.6	66.8	1.1	59.0
20	Solomon Islands	6.9	62.3	1.0	58.9
21	Tunisia	6.4	73.3	1.4	58.9
22	São Tomé and Principe	6.7	63.0	1.0	57.9
23	Indonesia	6.6	66.8	1.2	57.9
24	Tonga	6.6	72.2	1.6	57.9
25	Tajikistan	6.1	63.6	0.6	57.7
26	Venezuela	7.4	72.9	2.4	57.5
27	Dominican Republic	7.0	67.2	1.6	57.1
28	Guyana	7.2	63.1	1.5	56.6
29	Saint Kitts and Nevis	7.4	70.0	2.3	56.1
30	Seychelles	7.4	72.7	2.6	56.1
31	China	6.3	71.6	1.5	56.0
32	Thailand	6.5	70.0	1.6	55.4
33	Peru	5.6	70.0	0.9	55.1
34	Suriname	7.3	69.1	2.3	55.0
35	Yemen	6.2	60.6	0.7	55.0
36	Fiji	6.7	67.8	1.7	54.5
37	Morocco	5.6	69.7	0.9	54.4
38	Mexico	6.9	75.1	2.5	54.4
39	Maldives	6.6	66.6	1.6	53.5
40	Malta	7.5	78.4	3.5	53.3
41	Bangladesh	5.7	62.8	0.6	53.2
42	Comoros	5.9	63.2	0.8	52.9
43	Barbados	7.3	75.0	3.1	52.7
44	Malaysia	7.4	73.2	3.0	52.7
45	Palestine	5.4	72.5	1.1	52.6
46	Cape Verde	5.8	70.4	1.3	52.4
47	Argentina	6.8	74.5	2.6	52.2
48	Timor-Leste	6.6	55.5	0.8	52.0
49	Belize	6.9	71.9	2.6	52.0
50	Trinidad and Tobago	6.9	69.9	2.3	51.9
51	Chile	6.5	77.9	2.6	51.3
52	Paraguay	6.5	71.0	2.2	51.1
53	Jamaica	7.0	70.8	2.6	51.0
54	Nepal	5.5	61.6	0.6	50.0
55	Mauritius	6.5	72.2	2.4	49.6
56	Mongolia	6.7	64.0	1.9	49.6
57	Uruguay	6.3	75.4	2.6	49.3
58	Ecuador	5.6	74.3	1.8	49.3
59	Uzbekistan	6.4	66.5	1.9	49.2
60	Grenada	6.5	65.3	1.9	49.0
61	Austria	7.8	79.0	4.6	48.8
62	India	5.4	63.3	0.8	48.7
63	Brazil	6.3	70.5	2.2	48.6
64	Iceland	7.8	80.7	4.9	48.4
65	Switzerland	8.2	80.5	5.3	48.3
66	Italy	6.9	80.1	3.8	48.3
67	Iran	6.0	70.4	2.1	47.2
68	Ghana	6.2	56.8	1.1	47.0
69	Bolivia	5.5	64.1	1.2	46.2
70	Netherlands	7.5	78.4	4.7	46.0
71	Madagascar	5.8	55.4	0.8	46.0
72	Cyprus	6.9	78.6	4.0	46.0
73	Algeria	5.2	71.1	1.5	45.9
74	Luxembourg	7.6	78.5	4.9	45.6
75	Bahamas	7.7	69.7	4.1	44.9
76	Papua New Guinea	6.3	55.3	1.3	44.8
77	Burma	5.3	60.2	0.9	44.6
78	Belgium	7.3	78.9	4.9	44.0
79	Slovenia	6.6	76.4	3.8	44.0
80	Oman	7.3	74.1	4.4	43.9
81	Germany	7.2	78.7	4.8	43.8
82	Croatia	5.9	75.0	2.9	43.7
83	Lebanon	5.6	72.0	2.3	43.6
84	Taiwan	6.6	76.1	3.9	43.4
85	Haiti	5.5	51.6	0.5	43.3
86	Syria	5.1	73.3	1.9	43.2
87	Spain	7.0	79.5	4.8	43.0
88	Hong Kong	6.6	81.6	4.6	42.9
89	Saudi Arabia	7.3	71.8	4.4	42.7
90	Gambia	5.7	55.7	1.1	42.5
91	Cambodia	5.6	56.2	1.1	42.2
92	Albania	4.6	73.8	1.5	42.1
93	Jordan	5.1	71.3	1.9	42.0
94	New Zealand	7.4	79.1	5.5	41.9
95	Japan	6.2	82.0	4.3	41.7
96	Congo	5.7	52.0	0.9	41.6
97	Egypt	4.8	69.8	1.5	41.6
98	Turkey	5.3	68.7	2.0	41.4
99	Denmark	8.2	77.2	6.4	41.4
100	Brunei Darussalam	7.6	76.4	5.6	41.2
101	Georgia	4.1	70.5	0.8	41.2
102	Korea	5.8	77.0	3.4	41.1
103	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.1	74.2	2.3	41.0
104	Senegal	5.6	55.7	1.2	40.8
105	Azerbaijan	4.9	66.9	1.5	40.7
106	Gabon	6.2	54.5	1.7	40.5
107	Libya	5.7	73.6	3.1	40.3
108	United Kingdom	7.1	78.4	5.4	40.3
109	Laos	5.4	54.7	1.0	40.3
110	Benin	5.4	54.0	1.0	40.1
111	Canada	7.6	80.0	6.4	39.8
112	Pakistan	4.3	63.0	0.7	39.4
113	Ireland	7.6	77.7	6.2	39.4
114	Poland	5.9	74.3	3.6	39.3
115	Norway	7.4	79.4	6.2	39.2
116	Macedonia	4.9	73.8	2.3	39.1
117	Israel	6.7	79.7	5.3	39.1
118	Namibia	6.5	48.3	1.6	38.4
119	Sweden	7.7	80.2	7.0	38.2
120	Romania	5.2	71.3	2.7	37.7
121	Hungary	5.7	72.7	3.5	37.6
122	Guinea	5.1	53.7	1.0	37.4
123	Finland	7.7	78.5	7.0	37.4
124	Mauritania	5.3	52.7	1.1	37.3
125	Kazakhstan	5.8	63.2	2.8	36.9
126	Togo	4.9	54.3	0.9	36.9
127	Kenya	5.6	47.2	0.9	36.7
128	Czech Republic	6.4	75.6	5.0	36.6
129	France	6.6	79.5	5.8	36.4
130	Armenia	3.7	71.5	1.0	36.1
131	Singapore	6.9	78.7	6.2	36.1
132	Slovakia	5.4	74.0	3.6	35.8
133	Greece	6.3	78.3	5.4	35.7
134	Tanzania	5.5	46.0	0.9	35.1
135	Guinea-Bissau	5.4	44.7	0.7	35.1
136	Portugal	6.1	77.2	5.2	34.8
137	Eritrea	4.4	53.8	0.7	34.5
138	Bahrain	7.2	74.3	6.6	34.4
139	Australia	7.3	80.3	7.7	34.1
140	Mali	5.3	47.9	1.1	33.7
141	Mozambique	5.4	41.9	0.7	33.0
142	Cameroon	5.1	45.8	0.9	32.8
143	Djibouti	4.8	52.8	1.3	32.7
144	Ethiopia	4.7	47.6	0.7	32.5
145	Bulgaria	4.3	72.2	2.7	31.6
146	Nigeria	5.5	43.4	1.2	31.1
147	Moldova	3.5	67.7	1.2	31.1
148	Burkina Faso	4.7	47.5	1.1	30.1
149	Lithuania	4.7	72.3	3.9	29.3
150	United States of America	7.4	77.4	9.5	28.8
151	Cote d'Ivoire	4.5	45.9	0.9	28.8
152	Rwanda	4.4	43.9	0.7	28.3
153	Sierra Leone	5.0	40.8	0.9	28.2
154	United Arab Emirates	7.4	78.0	9.9	28.2
155	Angola	4.8	40.8	0.8	27.9
156	South Africa	5.7	48.4	2.8	27.8
157	Sudan	3.6	56.4	1.0	27.7
158	Uganda	4.7	47.3	1.5	27.7
159	Kuwait	7.2	76.9	9.5	27.7
160	Latvia	4.7	71.6	4.4	27.3
161	Niger	4.5	44.4	1.1	26.8
162	Malawi	4.6	39.7	0.7	26.7
163	Zambia	4.9	37.5	0.8	25.9
164	Central African Republic	4.9	39.3	1.1	25.9
165	Belarus	4.0	68.1	3.2	25.8
166	Qatar	7.0	72.8	9.5	25.5
167	Botswana	5.4	36.3	1.3	25.4
168	Chad	4.5	43.6	1.3	25.4
169	Turkmenistan	4.0	62.4	3.1	24.0
170	Equatorial Guinea	5.2	43.3	2.5	23.8
171	Lesotho	4.3	36.3	0.6	23.1
172	Russia	4.3	65.3	4.4	22.8
173	Estonia	5.1	71.3	6.9	22.7
173	Ukraine	3.6	66.1	3.3	22.2
175	Congo, Dem. Rep. of the	3.3	43.1	0.7	20.7
176	Burundi	3.0	43.6	0.7	19.0
177	Swaziland	4.2	32.5	1.1	18.4
178	Zimbabwe	3.3	36.9	1.0	16.6

RP, 17th happiest state worldwide, Vanuatu happiest--study

INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse
Last updated 10:52am (Mla time) 07/12/2006

LONDON -- The Philippines ranks 17th among the 178 countries ranked
as the happiest on Earth, according to a study published Wednesday
measuring people’s well being and their impact on the environment.

The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest,
with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama completing the top five
in the Happy Planet Index compiled by the British think-tank New
Economics Foundation.

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 is at the bottom, below second-worst performer Swaziland, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine.

The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in Saint 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), 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 center 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," Lowen 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," Lowen said.

"The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes," he said.

Also on the list are 23. Indonesia; 31. China; 32. Thailand; 44.
Malaysia; 62. India; 64. Iceland; 70. Netherlands; 87. Spain; 88. Hong
Kong; 89. Saudi Arabia; 99. Denmark; 112. Pakistan; 115. Norway; 119.
Sweden; 123. Finland; 139. Australia; 154. UAE; 156. South Africa; 159.
Kuwait; 166. Qatar.

Copyright 2006 INQ7.net,
Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ON THE OTHER HAND: SUICIDE RATES PER COUNTRY

From Wiki:

The following is a List of suicide rates by country according to data from the World Health Organization in which a country's rank is determined by its total rate of suicides. Male and female suicide rates are out of total male population and total female population, respectively (e.g. total male population divided by total number of male suicides). The total rate of suicides is based on the total number of suicides divided by the total population rather than merely the average of the male and female suicide rates, because the gender ratio in many countries is not 1:1. Year refers to the most recent year that data was available for a particular country.

This list should be used with caution. Little data is available documenting suicide rates in Africa, and the Middle East. Even in countries where cause-of-death data is collected systematically, differing societal attitudes toward suicide may impact the recorded figures (e.g., misreporting a suicide as an accidental death out of deference for the bereaved).


Suicides per 100,000 people per year:

Rank     Country     Year     Males     Females     Total
1.         Lithuania     2003     74.3         13.9         42.1
2.         Russia         2002     69.3     11.9     38.7
3.     Belarus     2003     63.3     10.3     35.1
4.     Kazakhstan     2002     50.2     8.8     28.8
5.     Slovenia     2003     45.0     12.0     28.1
6.     Hungary     2003     44.9     12.0     27.7
7.     Estonia     2002     47.7     9.8     27.3
8.     Ukraine     2002     46.7     8.4     26.1
9.     Latvia     2003     45.0     9.7     26.0
10.     Japan     2002     35.2     12.8     23.8
11.     Sri Lanka     1996     NA     NA     21.6
12.     Belgium     1997     31.2     11.4     21.1
13.     Finland     2003     31.9     9.8     20.6
14.     Croatia     2003     31.4     8.4     19.5
15.     Switzerland     2001     26.5     10.6     18.4
16.     Cuba     1996     24.5     12.0     18.3
17.     Austria     2003     27.1     9.3     17.9
18.     Republic of Korea (South Korea)     2002     24.7     11.2     17.9
19.     France     2001     26.6     9.1     17.6
20.     Republic of Moldova     2003     30.6     4.8     17.2
21.     Czech Republic     2003     27.5     6.8     16.9
22.     Poland     2002     26.6     5.0     15.5
23.     Hong Kong SAR, China     2002     20.7     10.2     15.3
24.     Romania     2002     23.9     4.7     14.1
25.     Bulgaria     2003     21.0     7.3     14
26.     China (selected areas)     1999     13.0     14.8     13.9
27.     Denmark     2000     20.2     7.2     13.6
28.     Germany     2001     20.4     7.0     13.5
29.     Sweden     2001     18.9     8.1     13.4
30.     Slovakia     2002     23.6     3.6     13.3
31.     Flag of Seychelles Seychelles     1998     NA     NA     13.2
32.     Flag of Australia Australia     2001     20.1     5.3     12.7
33.     Ireland     2001     21.4     4.1     12.7
34.     Iceland     2001     19.6     5.6     12.6
35.     Canada     2001     18.7     5.2     11.9
36.     Mauritius     2000     18.8     5.2     11.9
37.     New Zealand     2000     19.8     4.2     11.9
38.     Suriname     1992     16.6     7.2     11.9
39.     Bosnia and Herzegovina     1991     20.3     3.3     11.8
40.     Portugal     2002     18.9     4.9     11.7
41.     Trinidad and Tobago     1994     17.4     5     11.6
42.     Luxembourg     2003     18.5     3.5     10.9
43.     Norway     2002     16.1     5.8     10.9
44.     India     1998     12.2     9.1     10.7
45.     United States     2002     17.6     4.1     11.0
46.     Guyana     1994     14.6     6.5     10.5
47.     Uruguay     1990     16.6     4.2     10.3
48.     Kyrgyzstan     2003     16.1     3.2     9.6
49.     Singapore     2002     11.4     7.6     9.5
50.     Netherlands     2003     12.7     5.9     9.2
51.     Puerto Rico     1992     16.1     1.9     8.7
52.     Turkmenistan     1998     13.8     3.5     8.6
53.     Spain     2002     12.6     3.9     8.2
54.     El Salvador     1993     10.4     5.5     7.9
55.     Zimbabwe     1990     10.6     5.2     7.9
56.     Saint Lucia     1988     9.3     5.8     7.5
57.     Republic of Macedonia     2000     10.3     4.5     7.4
58.     Italy     2001     11.1     3.3     7.1
59.     United Kingdom     2002     10.8     3.1     6.9
60.     Barbados     1995     9.5     3.7     6.5
61.     Belize     1995     12.1     0.9     6.5
62.     Argentina     1996     9.9     3.0     6.4
63.     Israel     2000     9.9     2.7     6.3
64.     Uzbekistan     2002     9.3     3.1     6.2
65.     Costa Rica     1995     9.7     2.1     5.9
66.     Chile     1994     10.2     1.4     5.7
67.     Venezuela     1994     8.3     1.9     5.1
68.     Malta     2003     8.6     1.5     5.0
69.     Ecuador     1995     6.4     3.2     4.8
70.     Brazil     1995     6.6     1.8     4.1
71.     Albania     2003     4.7     3.3     4.0
72.     Thailand     1994     5.6     2.4     4
73.     Panama     1987     5.6     1.9     3.8
74.     Colombia     1994     5.5     1.5     3.5
75.     Nicaragua     1994     4.7     2.2     3.4
76.     Bahrain     1988     4.9     0.5     3.1
77.     Mexico     1995     5.4     1.0     3.1
78.     Greece     2002     4.7     1.2     2.9
79.     Tajikistan     2001     2.9     2.3     2.6
80.     Paraguay     1994     3.4     1.2     2.3
81.     Georgia     2001     3.4     1.1     2.2
82.     Philippines     1993     2.5     1.7     2.1
83.     Kuwait     2002     2.5     1.4     2.0
84.     Armenia     2003     3.2     0.5     1.8
85.     Azerbaijan     2002     1.8     0.5     1.1
86.     Bahamas     1995     2.2     0     1.1
87.     São Tomé and Príncipe     1987     0     1.8     0.9
88.     Guatemala     1984     0.9     0.1     0.5
89.     Peru     1989     0.6     0.4     0.5
90.     Jamaica     1985     0.5     0.2     0.3
91.     Iran     1991     0.3     0.1     0.2
92.     Syria     1985     0.2     0.0     0.1
93.     Antigua and Barbuda     1995     0     0     0
94.     Dominican Republic     1994     0     0     0
95.     Egypt     1987     0.1     0     0
96.     Honduras     1978     0     0     0
97.     Jordan     1979     0     0     0
98.     St. Kitts and Nevis     1995     0     0     0
99.     St. Vincent and the Grenadines     1996     0     0     0

Attachment: Happy Planet.pdf