Happy Planet Index (HPI)... are you living in a happy place? :P

Recently I came across an article about how the island of Vanuatu in the south Pacific was identified as the 'happiest country on earth'. I first recall seeing the headline in Yahoo news and saw it repeated elsewhere. So, it was a nice surprise when I ran across the actual website of the organization that created the index, the New Economics Foundation at http://www.happyplanetindex.org/about.htm. Unlike other economics-based indices, this one tries to measure "the relative efficiency with which nations convert the planet’s natural resources into long and happy lives for their citizens." Thus, "The nations that top the Index aren’t the happiest places in the world, but the nations that score well show that achieving, long, happy lives without over-stretching the planet’s resources is possible." Note: picture to the left is a screenshot of the map on the HPI website.

And guess what? The US ranks number 150, just 2 spots above Rwanda and 3 spots above Sierra Leone!! Can you believe that? The US is ranked slightly above two places that has in recent years been on the news for having civil wars that generated humanitarian crisis!! That's incredibly shocking.

By the way, I noticed that 5 of the top 10 countries are in Central America - that's awesome. Other major country rankings are below. Costa Rica is ranked #3!! For the full list, visit: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/list.htm.

31: China (I would differ greatly on this ranking - it received a 1.5 for its EF or ecological footprint, a serious underestimation in my opinion given China' vast and incredibly fast growing environmental damage)
81: Germany
95: Japan
108: United Kingdom
129: France