Tag Archives: happiness

The Happy Planet Index 2012

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) measures how countries provide their citizens with a long and happy existence within their borders.

The HPI measures three variables: experienced well-being, life expectancy and environmental footprint. Environmental footprint is a measure of resource consumption. Scores for each variable are combined to create an overall measurement, where the color green represents the best performance for all three variables. The HPI has been calculated for 151 countries.

The highest ranking countries on the HPI are: Costa Rica, Vietnam, Belize, Colombia and El Salvador. See table below:

For more information about the HPI methodology, definitions and the complete list of ranked countries, please visit: The Happy Planet Index

 

The Happiest Countries on Earth

click to enlarge

MIT’s Technology Review magazine created a map of the 40 happiest countries in the world, based on research data from Columbia University’s Earth Institute. According to the list, Denmark ranks as the happiest country, followed by Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada. At the bottom of this list are Jamaica, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and the Czech Republic. Countries not on this list ranked even lower.

For a detailed information concerning the methodology used and sources, see: The Earth Institute – Columbia University: First World Happiness Report Launched at the United Nations

 

The World’s Most Emotional Countries

Emotional map of the world

A Gallup survey aimed at gauging the daily emotional responses of people around the world reveals which countries are the world’s most and least emotional. Max Fisher at the Washington Post created the map above and summarized the results of the survey as follows:

  • Singapore is the least emotional country in the world
  • The Philippines is the world’s most emotional country
  • Post-Soviet countries are consistently among the most stoic
  • People in the Americas are just exuberant
  • English- and Spanish-speaking societies tend to be highly emotional and happy
  • Africans are generally stoic, with some significant exceptions
  • The Middle East is not happy

How emotional is your country according to the Gallup survey?