Costa Rica Named 2012 'Happiest Nation' in the World

Costa Rica Named 2012 ‘Happiest Nation’ in the World

Posted in Uncategorized | June 16th, 2012

Costa Rica is named the ‘happiest’ and is the greenest country in the world!

The study come from the Happy Planet Index, an index of human well-being and environmental impact compiled by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) based on global data on life expectancy, experienced well-being and ecological footprints around the world. NEF first introduced the global measurement in July 2006.

Vietnam and Colombia ranked second and third respectively.

Of the nine countries closest to achieving happy, green lives, eight are in Latin America and the Caribbean.

High income countries such as the UK (ranked 41st), Japan (ranked 45th) and the US (ranked 105th), received a low overall score due to the large per-capital ecological footprint.

Asian countries such as Bangladesh (11th), Indonesia (14th), Thailand (20th) and the Philippines (25th) were included in the Top 25. While Qatar (149th), Chad (150th) and Botswana (151st) were ranked the lowest.

Below are the happiest countries according to the Happy Planet Index 2012

1. Costa Rica
2. Vietnam
3. Colombia
4. Belize
5. El Salvador
6. Jamaica
7. Panama
8. Nicaragua
9. Venezuela
10.Guatemala

A video explaining the Happy Planet Index can be found on YouTube.

Full ranking is available HERE.

Cheers,