According to a recent study by the New Economics Foundation, an organization based in England, COSTA RICA was accorded the distinction of being the happiest place in the world.

The organization ranked 143 nations using the Happy Planet Index, an index which considered three major factors – the general happiness of the people, the average life expectancy and the ecological footprint (or the impact on the earth’s natural resources) of each country.

“Costa Ricans have the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada)” and a relatively low ecological footprint, the report concluded.

Latin American countries dominated the top ten with eight entries (Dominican Republic and Guatemala finishing #2 and 4 respectively), JAMAICA - a favorite Caribbean vacation destination and the birthplace of reggae - finished in the 3rd slot and Vietnam was ranked as #5.

Of the major industrialized powers, Germany was ranked #51, England #74 and USA #116. Thailand, one of my favorite countries finished #41 in this study

The most disturbing results of this study was the rather toxic ecological footprint (the demand on this earth’s natural resources) by the relatively advanced Westernized nations of the world - USA finished with the 2nd worst score in this category (a whopping 9.4), finishing behind only tiny Luxemburg which had a score of 10.2. All I can say is that Americans are probably the most spoiled (and most wasteful) people of this planet. On a per capita basis, Americans have the most extravagant lifestyle of any peoples in this world. Isn’t it about time that we become more efficient with our energy usage and utilization of the earth’s natural resources? Or will we continue our role as an energy/resource hogs!

COSTA RICA, what can I say. Although this small county has its fair share of problems – including an alarming rate of petty thefts and break-ins - it is truly the HAPPIEST PLACE on this planet taken everything into consideration. No wonder, many people from Westernized countries resettle there every year forsaking their more affluent lifestyles. PURA VIDA!

If you’d like to know more, you can download the full Happy Planet Index report

Tags: Costa Rica ranked #1, Happiness index

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Costa Rica, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.