| Joy, joy, happy joy |
[12 Jul 2006|06:00pm] |
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So Vanuatu is the happiest nation on the planet according to the "Happy Planet Index".
Hang on a moment isn't Vanuatu about to disappear from the face of the earth due to rising tides? http://www.globalgeografia.com/oceania_eng/save_tuvalu_vanuatu.htm
And they are all happy about this?
Me thinks I need to look at this happyness index in more detail...
From the Happy Planet Index site I see the happiness planet index is calculated from
| HPI = |
Life satisfaction x Life expectancy |
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| Ecological Footprint |
Ah ha, all is revlealed... it is happiness per resources used, so when the news story article said that Vanuatu despite not having many resources ("you don't have to be rich to be happy"), in fact it gets a high HPI because it has few resources.
Look though the HPI list itself and the country with the highest Life Satisfaction is Denmark (8.2), though Vanuatu is close (7.4).
Then again there is the Happy Life Years column; surely is it important how long you are happy for* (Switzerland:66; Vanuatu:50.5) or perhaps it should be how long you are happy for as a percentage of your life span (Denmark:82%, Vanuatu: 74%). Or even how satisfied your are over those years you're alive:
| Life satisfaction x |
Number of Happy Years |
|
| Life Expectency |
Denmark: 6.72
Switzerland: 6.72
Austria: 6.08
...
USA: 5.48
...
Vanuatu: 5.45
...
UK: 5.04
...
...
Zimbabwe: 1.09
Dem. Rep. of the Congo: 0.93
Guess there it all depeneds on what you're measuring as to what news article you write.
* Though that does raise the question on whether it is best to be really happy for less years or happy-ish for many years*
** Don't ask me I haven't a clue, last year my happiest time was followed by horrible, horrible crash soon after; so I can't say I've ever been in a happy state long enough to know which is best.
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