Rating the happiness of the world

Could we calculate the happiness of a country? Every time we talked about the situation of a country we value its economic level, especially considering the main macroeconomic indicator, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  However, the richness of a country depends not only on its GDP because the property of material things is not synonymous of happiness. Obviously, we need money to live, as well as some kinds of products and possessions, but a large amount of money doesn´t mean more happiness. That is why today we would like to share several indexes, that don´t value only economic growth, to rate the development of a country.

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is developed by New Economics Foundation (NEF) since 2006. It is released every 3 years and it uses global data on life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint (you can calculate your environmental footprint here).  

The HPI was established as an alternative index to the GDP and the Human Development Index (HDI), which calculates a long and healthy life, the education level and a decent standard of living. In the mind time, the HPI compares the subjective perception of wellness and life expectancy with the consume of natural resources in 151 countries. Having in mind all of those aspects, the first countries of the ranking are not the ones which belongs to the “first world”. In 2012, when the last ranking was done, the happiest country in the world was Costa Rica; the second one Vietnam and the third one Colombia. USA was in the 104th position, Germany in the 46th and France in the 50th. Ukraine was in the last position. We are looking forward to see the results of the next one, which will be released in 2015.

We can find more alternative indexes, like Gross National Happiness (GNH), which has only been officially used in Bhutan and calculates happiness through four parameters: the sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, promotion of cultural values, environmental protection and a good governance.

Another indexes are the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), which is applied since 1950 to value the economic welfare and social progress of a country considering unpaid activities as volunteering or caring for relatives, economic inequalities and sustainable development; and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), which considers mainly personal consumption, public expenditures and environmental degradation.

Now on, every time we will talk about the development and the richness of a country we can have a deeper look on all of these indexes and not consider its wealth just through economic terms. 

Isabel Barragán Vera