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UK slips to 73rd on the Happy Planet Index
9th July 2009
Economists at the New Economics Foundation have published their latest Happy Planet rankings. The Global Happy Plant Index incorporates three separate indicators: ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life expectancy - three factors that combine to produce an efficiency measure: well-being delivered per unit of environmental impact.
Costa Rica tops the Happy Planet Index 2.0 for this year. The NEF reports that Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the New World (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources.
Rich, developed nations fare poorly. The highest placed Western nation is the Netherlands - managing only 43rd out of 143. The UK still languishes midway down the table - 74th, well behind Germany, Italy and France. It is just pipped by Georgia and Slovakia, but ahead of Japan and Ireland. The USA fares particularly poorly, in 114th place out of 143.
9 out of the top 10 countries in terms of HPI are in South and Central America, or the Caribbean. The highest HPI score belongs to Costa Rica – a nation that is a front-runner in the green revolution in the developing world, producing a staggering 99% of its electricity from renewable sources.
The NEF blog is available here
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.