Happy Planet Index Low

Posted by Amanda Kendle Jan 3, 2007

UPDATE: In July 2007, the latest European Happy Planet Index was released.

Studies that focus on happiness over wealth are always interesting to me, but of course measuring happiness is not so easy. (Should there be a "smile" index?). In any case, the New Economics Foundation recently released its ideas on the happiest (and unhappiest) countries in the world, using a measure based on current well-being and environmental impact to show "that people can live long, happy lives without using more than their fair share of the Earth's resources".

On this index, Vanuatu achieved first place, followed by mostly central and south American countries in the top ten. Where did Eastern Europe place? Well, according to this study Russia is an unhappy place, reaching just 172nd place out of 178 countries involved. Estonia and Ukraine also ranked in the bottom ten. The top performers from Eastern Europe were, in fact, Slovenia and Croatia. (And interestingly, due to its "heavy ecological footprint", the USA reached only 150th).