Happy Planet Index

Map showing countries shaded by their position in the Happy Planet Index (2006). The highest-ranked countries are bright green; the lowest are brown.

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in July 2006. The index is weighted to give progressively higher scores to nations with lower ecological footprints.

The index is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries’ development, such as the gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI), which are seen as not taking sustainability into account. In particular, GDP is seen as inappropriate, as the usual ultimate aim of most people is not to be rich, but to behappy and healthy.^[1] Furthermore, it is believed that the notion of sustainable development requires a measure of the environmental costs of pursuing those goals.^[2]

Out of the 178 countries surveyed in 2006, the best scoring countries were Vanuatu,Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama, although Vanuatu is absent from all later indices.^[3] In 2009 Costa Rica was the best scoring country among the 143 analyzed, followed by the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala and Vietnam.Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe were featured at the bottom of the list.^[4]

For the 2012 ranking, 151 countries were compared, and the best scoring country for the second time in a row was Costa Rica, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, Belize and El Salvador. The lowest ranking countries in 2012 were Botswana, Chad and Qatar.^[5]^[6]

International rankings[edit]

On a scale running from 0 to 10, people in over 150 countries, surveyed by Gallup over the period 2010-12, reveal a population-weighted average score of 5.1 (out of 10). Six key variables explain three-quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries. These six factors include: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity.^[5]

2013 ranking (2010-12 surveys)[edit]

Rank	Country	Happiness	Change in happiness from 2012–14
1	*Switzerland*	*7.587*	*-0.233*
2	*Iceland*	*7.561*	*0.263*
3	*Denmark*	*7.527*	*0.303*
4	*Norway*	*7.522*	*0.054*
5	*Canada*	*7.427*	*0.171*
6	*Finland*	*7.406*	*0.032*
7	*Netherlands*	*7.389*	*-0.283*
8	*Sweden*	*7.378*	*0.247*
9	*New Zealand*	*7.364*	*N/A*
10	*Australia*	*7.350*	*0.040*
11	*Israel*	*7.301*	*0.293*
12	*Costa Rica*	*7.257*	*0.000*
13	*Austria*	*7.221*	*-0.210*
14	*Mexico*	*7.144*	*0.410*
15	*United States*	*7.143*	*0.633*
16	*Brazil*	*7.088*	*0.535*
17	*Luxembourg*	*7.082*	*-0.283*
18	*Ireland*	*7.076*	*-0.068*
19	*Belgium*	*7.054*	*N/A*
20	*United Arab Emirates*	*7.039*	*0.192*
21	*United Kingdom*	*6.967*	*-0.274*
22	*Oman*	*6.883*	*-0.003*
23	*Venezuela*	*6.853*	*N/A*
24	*Singapore*	*6.849*	*0.371*
25	*Panama*	*6.764*	*-0.049*
26	*Germany*	*6.672*	*0.163*
27	*Chile*	*6.666*	*N/A*
28	*Qatar*	*6.587*	*0.708*
29	*France*	*6.562*	*0.369*
30	*Argentina*	*6.546*	*-0.094*
31	*Czech Republic*	*6.519*	*0.687*
32	*Kuwait*	*6.515*	*0.440*
33	*Saudi Arabia*	*6.480*	*0.692*
34	*Cyprus*	*6.466*	*0.228*
35	*Colombia*	*6.416*	*0.334*
36	*Thailand*	*6.371*	*0.527*
37	*Uruguay*	*6.355*	*0.615*
38	*Spain*	*6.322*	*-0.750*
39	*Czech Republic*	*6.290*	*-0.180*
40	*Suriname*	*6.269*	*N/A*
41	*South Korea*	*6.267*	*0.728*
42	*Taiwan*	*6.221*	*0.032*
43	*Japan*	*6.064*	*-0.303*
44	*Slovenia*	*6.060*	*0.249*
45	*Italy*	*6.021*	*-0.691*
46	*Slovakia*	*5.969*	*0.705*
47	*Guatemala*	*5.965*	*-0.148*
48	*Malta*	*5.964*	*N/A*
49	*Ecuador*	*5.865*	*0.855*
50	*Bolivia*	*5.857*	*0.357*
51	*Poland*	*5.822*	*0.085*
52	*Iceland*	*5.809*	*0.313*
53	*Moldova*	*5.791*	*0.852*
54	*Paraguay*	*5.779*	*0.777*
55	*Peru*	*5.776*	*0.763*
56	*Malaysia*	*5.760*	*-0.377*
57	*Kazakhstan*	*5.671*	*0.074*
58	*Croatia*	*5.661*	*-0.160*
59	*Turkmenistan*	*5.628*	*N/A*
60	*Uzbekistan*	*5.623*	*0.390*
61	*Angola*	*5.589*	*1.438*
62	*Albania*	*5.550*	*0.915*
63	*Vietnam*	*5.533*	*0.173*
64	*Hong Kong*	*5.523*	*0.012*
65	*Nicaragua*	*5.507*	*0.800*
66	*Belarus*	*5.504*	*-0.133*
67	*Mauritius*	*5.477*	*N/A*
68	*Russia*	*5.464*	*0.346*
69	*North Cyprus*	*5.463*	*N/A*
70	*Greece*	*5.435*	*-0.891*
71	*Lithuania*	*5.426*	*-0.456*
72	*Estonia*	*5.426*	*0.074*
73	*Algeria*	*5.422*	*N/A*
74	*Jordan*	*5.414*	*-0.528*
75	*Jamaica*	*5.374*	*-0.833*
76	*Indonesia*	*5.348*	*0.329*
77	*Turkey*	*5.344*	*0.171*
78	*Libya*	*5.340*	*N/A*
79	*Bahrain*	*5.312*	*N/A*
80	*Montenegro*	*5.299*	*0.103*
81	*Pakistan*	*5.292*	*-0.214*
82	*Nigeria*	*5.248*	*0.448*
83	*Kosovo*	*5.222*	*0.118*
84	*Honduras*	*5.142*	*-0.103*
85	*Portugal*	*5.101*	*-0.305*