Hi guys,
I found this really interesting website by Global Finance regarding the happiness level of the world from some surveys done by the New Economy Foundation. They collected these survey results together into something called the Happy Planet Index. Although the topic of "happiness" to me is very subjective, but the survey did include some interesting data and and how these collected information is relative to being happy in a particular country.
3 factors are incorporated into the Index,
- Ecological footprint; Measured in Global Hectares (gha). It is the amount of land needed to provide for a population's resource requirements plus the amount of vegetated land needed to absorb all their CO2 emissions and in the products they consume.
- Life satisfaction; Health as well as “subjective well-being” such as opportunities to undertake meaningful activities, inner resources that help one cope when things go wrong, closeness between friends and family, as well as a sense of community.
- Life expectancy.
Also note that Central and South America seems to be more happy than the rest of the world, their footprint is quite low, and they live longer too. In contrast to Africa, with a somewhat similar footprint, but a different state of well being that definitely have an impact on their life expectancy.
So if you want to live longer, and be happier, pack your bags and settle down somewhere south of the border of the USA. Who knows what makes them all cheery, maybe its the massive party like Mardi Gras or the amazing places like Rio, or maybe its because of all the beautiful women over there (Venezuela has the most Miss World), I'd vote the latter :p
Post your comments to talk about your observations.
p/s: I feel like moving to Vietnam for some reason
