William Atkins
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 20:33
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
The New Economics Foundation says that people can be happy without sacrificing their economic well-being. The Happy Planet Index shows that people can live long and happy lives without degrading their country’s natural resources. The people of Costa Rica are a fine example!
According to the
New Economics Founcation (NEF) website the Happy Planet Index (HPI) is
“… an innovative measure that shows the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered around the world.”
The HPI relates environmental impact from human activities in a country and the well-being of people in that country; and then calculates the environmental efficiency in which these people are living long and happy lives.
Even though the United States has a gross domestic product (GDP) of over $45,000 per person (GDP is a standard measure of economic development) and Costa Rica only has a GDP of about $10,000, the people of Costa Rica are a little bit happier than the United States. [Statistics from New Scientist “Redefine the bottom line” September 12-18, 2009, pages 34-35.]
However, Cosa Ricans live their lives much better than Americans when it comes to not degrading their country.
Costa Rica also beats out Australia, the United Kingdom, and, in fact, all of the other 143 countries listed on the HPI.
Early on, the GDP was created to give a measure of economic development. However, it says nothing about personal satisfaction and social welfare.
Therefore, the United Nations (UN) Human Development Index (HDI) was created later as a measure of well-being, specifically taking into account life expectancy and education as major indicators of well-being, along with GDP.
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