from 'the age' newspaper in australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/tiny-nation-worlds-happiest-country/2006/07/12/1152637719222.html
Tiny nation 'world's happiest country'
July 12, 2006 - 1:07PM
The tiny South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu is the
happiest country on Earth, according to a study
measuring people's wellbeing and their impact on the
environment.
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the
top five in the Happy Planet Index, compiled by the
British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF).
Australia is ranked 139th out of the 178 countries
surveyed.
The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy
and environmental footprint - the amount of land
required to sustain the population and absorb its
energy consumption.
Zimbabwe came bottom of the rankings, below
second-worst performer Swaziland, Burundi, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine in the
survey, published today.
The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in St
Petersburg this weekend but have not much to smile
about, according to the index.
Italy came out best in 66th place, ahead of Germany
(81), Japan (95), Britain (108), Canada (111), France
(129).
Those worse off than Australia included the United
States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.
Andrew Simms, NEF's policy director, said the index
"addresses the relative success or failure of
countries in giving their citizens a good life while
respecting the environmental resource limits on which
all our lives depend."
Nic Marks, the head of NEF's centre for wellbeing,
added: "It is clear that no single nation listed in
the Happy Planet Index has got everything right.
"But the index does reveal patterns that show how we
might better achieve long and happy lives for all,
whilst living within our environmental means," he
said, according to British daily The Guardian.
"The challenge is: can we learn the lessons and apply
them?"
Island nations performed particularly well in the
rankings. But Vanuatu, with a population of around
200,000, topped them all.
"Don't tell too many people, please," said Marke Lowen
of Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper.
"People are generally happy here because they are very
satisfied with very little," he told The Guardian.
"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is
about community and family and goodwill to other
people. It's a place where you don't worry too much."
"The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes."
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