EU beat out by Latin America in 'Happy Planet' ranks

In the global rankings of well being and environmental impact, the country of Costa Rica comes out on top, according to the new economic foundation’s (nef’s) “The Happy Planet Index (HPI) 2.0.”

The second-ever set of ratings finds, among other things, that:

• Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, with the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of “one-planet living” (i.e., 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;l
• OECD nations’ HPI scores plummeted between 1960 and the late 1970s. Although there have been some gains since then, HPI scores were still higher in 1961 than in 2005. Life satisfaction and life expectancy combined have increased 15 per cent over the 45-year period, but it has come at an earth-shattering cost — an increase in ecological footprint per head of 72 per cent; and
• Of a group of 36 major nations tracked in detail over time, around two-thirds increased their HPI scores marginally between 1990 and 2005, but the three largest countries in the world — China, India and the US (all aggressively pursuing growth-based development models) — have all seen their HPI scores drop in that time.

“The results turn our idea of progress on its head,” the Happy Planet Index report’s executive summary states. “Whilst the HPI confirms that the countries where people enjoy the happiest and healthiest lives are mostly richer developed countries, it shows the unsustainable ecological price we pay. It also reveals some notable exceptions — less wealthy countries, with significantly smaller ecological footprints per head, having high levels of life expectancy and life satisfaction. In other words, it shows that a good life is possible without costing the Earth.”

Costa Rica scored highest, with a total of 76.1 out of 100 possible points. Following it in the rankings were the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil and Honduras.

The UK ranked 74 — behind the Netherlands (43), Germany (51), Switzerland (52), Sweden (53), Austria (57), Finland (59), Belgium (64), Italy (69) and France (71) —  while the US came in at 114.