Happiest place on Earth

**DaveB** · 12 July 2006, 09:01

Originally posted by DimPrawn

Not a place for CUK regulars, but, for those that like to be happy and upbeat:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5169448.stm

People can live long, happy lives without consuming large amounts of the Earth's resources, a survey suggests.

The 178-nation "Happy Planet Index" lists the south Pacific island of Vanuatu as the happiest nation on the planet, while the UK is ranked 108th.

The index is based on consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness, rather than national economic wealth measurements such as GDP.

The study was compiled by think-tank the New Economics Foundation (Nef).

Who's willing to trade their plasma TV for a loin cloth?

If it works out like this then I'd do it right now

An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, "only a little while."

The banker then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The banker then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The banker scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the City, where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the banker replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The banker laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions.. Then what?"

The banker said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

**Mailman** · 12 July 2006, 09:21

What a totally pointless article...no list of who those happy nations are!

I bet there arent too many islamic countries in the top 10 though

Mailman

**DimPrawn** · 12 July 2006, 09:32

Country Life Sat Life Exp EF HPI HLY GDP
Vanuatu 7.4 68.6 1.1 68.2 50.5 2944
Colombia 7.2 72.4 1.3 67.2 52.2 6702
Costa Rica 7.5 78.2 2.1 66.0 59.0 9606
Dominica 7.3 75.6 1.8 64.6 52.9 5448
Panama 7.2 74.8 1.8 63.5 54.0 6854
Cuba 6.3 77.3 1.4 61.9 48.9 5400
Honduras 7.2 67.8 1.4 61.8 48.8 2665
Guatemala 7.0 67.3 1.2 61.7 47.0 4148
El Salvador 6.6 70.9 1.2 61.7 46.9 4781
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 7.2 71.1 1.7 61.4 51.5 6123
Saint Lucia 7.0 72.4 1.6 61.3 50.5 5709
Vietnam 6.1 70.5 0.8 61.2 43.0 2490
Bhutan 7.6 62.9 1.3 61.1 47.7 1969
Samoa (Western) 6.9 70.2 1.4 61.0 48.5 5854
Sri Lanka 6.1 74.0 1.1 60.3 45.0 3778
Antigua and Barbuda 7.4 73.9 2.3 59.2 55.0 10294
Philippines 6.4 70.4 1.2 59.2 45.1 4321
Nicaragua 6.3 69.7 1.1 59.1 44.1 3262
Kyrgyzstan 6.6 66.8 1.1 59.0 44.1 1751
Solomon Islands 6.9 62.3 1.0 58.9 43.1 1753
Tunisia 6.4 73.3 1.4 58.9 46.6 7161
São Tomé and Principe 6.7 63.0 1.0 57.9 42.4 1231
Indonesia 6.6 66.8 1.2 57.9 44.1 3361
Tonga 6.6 72.2 1.6 57.9 47.4 6992
Tajikistan 6.1 63.6 0.6 57.7 38.8 1106
Venezuela 7.4 72.9 2.4 57.5 54.0 4919
Dominican Republic 7.0 67.2 1.6 57.1 46.9 6823
Guyana 7.2 63.1 1.5 56.6 45.4 4230
Saint Kitts and Nevis 7.4 70.0 2.3 56.1 52.1 12404
Seychelles 7.4 72.7 2.6 56.1 53.9 10232
China 6.3 71.6 1.5 56.0 45.1 5003
Thailand 6.5 70.0 1.6 55.4 45.4 7595
Peru 5.6 70.0 0.9 55.1 39.5 5260
Suriname 7.3 69.1 2.3 55.0 50.8 6552
Yemen 6.2 60.6 0.7 55.0 37.8 889
Fiji 6.7 67.8 1.7 54.5 45.3 5880
Morocco 5.6 69.7 0.9 54.4 39.0 4004
Mexico 6.9 75.1 2.5 54.4 51.8 9168
Maldives 6.6 66.6 1.6 53.5 43.8 4798
Malta 7.5 78.4 3.5 53.3 58.8 17633
Bangladesh 5.7 62.8 0.6 53.2 35.8 1770
Comoros 5.9 63.2 0.8 52.9 37.5 1714
Barbados 7.3 75.0 3.1 52.7 54.8 15720
Malaysia 7.4 73.2 3.0 52.7 54.1 9512
Palestine 5.4 72.5 1.1 52.6 39.2 2302
Cape Verde 5.8 70.4 1.3 52.4 40.8 5214
Argentina 6.8 74.5 2.6 52.2 50.3 12106
Timor-Leste 6.6 55.5 0.8 52.0 36.6 1033
Belize 6.9 71.9 2.6 52.0
51.4 6950
Trinidad and Tobago 6.9 69.9 2.3 51.9 47.9 10766
Chile 6.5 77.9 2.6 51.3 50.5 10274
Paraguay 6.5 71.0 2.2 51.1 46.5 4684
Jamaica 7.0 70.8 2.6 51.0 49.4 4104
Nepal 5.5 61.6 0.6 50.0 33.6 1420
Mauritius 6.5 72.2 2.4 49.6 46.6 11287
Mongolia 6.7 64.0 1.9 49.6 42.9 1850
Uruguay 6.3 75.4 2.6 49.3 47.7 8280
Ecuador 5.6 74.3 1.8 49.3 41.9 3641
Uzbekistan 6.4 66.5 1.9 49.2 42.6 1744
Grenada 6.5 65.3 1.9 49.0 42.2 7959
Austria 7.8 79.0 4.6 48.8 61.6 30094
India 5.4 63.3 0.8 48.7 34.2 2892
Brazil 6.3 70.5 2.2 48.6 44.2 7790
Iceland 7.8 80.7 4.9 48.4 62.9 31243
Switzerland 8.2 80.5 5.3 48.3 66.0 30552
Italy 6.9 80.1 3.8 48.3 55.3 27119
Iran 6.0 70.4 2.1 47.2 42.2 6995
Ghana 6.2 56.8 1.1 47.0 35.1 2238
Bolivia 5.5 64.1 1.2 46.2 35.2 2587
Netherlands 7.5 78.4 4.7 46.0 58.8 29371
Madagascar 5.8 55.4 0.8 46.0 32.3 809
Cyprus 6.9 78.6 4.0 46.0 54.2 18776
Algeria 5.2 71.1 1.5 45.9 37.0 6107
Luxembourg 7.6 78.5 4.9 45.6 59.7 40000
Bahamas 7.7 69.7 4.1 44.9 53.7 17159
Papua New Guinea 6.3 55.3 1.3 44.8 34.7 2619
Burma 5.3 60.2 0.9 44.6 31.9 1524
Belgium 7.3 78.9 4.9 44.0 57.6 28335
Slovenia 6.6 76.4 3.8 44.0 50.4 19150
Oman 7.3 74.1 4.4 43.9 54.1 13584
Germany 7.2 78.7 4.8 43.8 56.7 27756
Croatia 5.9 75.0 2.9 43.7 44.3 11080
Lebanon 5.6 72.0 2.3 43.6 40.3 5074
Taiwan 6.6 76.1 3.9 43.4 50.2 24278
Haiti 5.5 51.6 0.5 43.3 28.5 1742
Syria 5.1 73.3 1.9 43.2 37.4 3576
Spain 7.0 79.5 4.8 43.0 55.7 22391
Hong Kong 6.6 81.6 4.6 42.9 53.9 27179
Saudi Arabia 7.3 71.8 4.4 42.7 52.6 13226
Gambia 5.7 55.7 1.1 42.5 31.7 1859
Cambodia 5.6 56.2 1.1 42.2 31.5 2078
Albania 4.6 73.8 1.5 42.1 33.9 4584
Jordan 5.1 71.3 1.9 42.0 36.4 4320
New Zealand 7.4 79.1 5.5 41.9 58.5 22582
Japan 6.2 82.0 4.3 41.7 50.8 27967
Congo 5.7 52.0 0.9 41.6 29.8 965
Egypt 4.8 69.8 1.5 41.6 33.5 3950
Turkey 5.3 68.7 2.0 41.4 36.4 6772
Denmark 8.2 77.2 6.4 41.4 63.3 31465
Brunei Darussalam 7.6 76.4 5.6 41.2 58.1 19210
Georgia 4.1 70.5 0.8 41.2 28.9 2588
Korea 5.8 77.0 3.4 41.1 44.7 17971
Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.1 74.2 2.3 41.0 37.8 5967
Senegal 5.6 55.7 1.2 40.8 31.1 1648
Azerbaijan 4.9 66.9 1.5 40.7 32.8 3617
Gabon 6.2 54.5 1.7 40.5 33.8 6397
Libya 5.7 73.6 3.1 40.3 42.0 10564
United Kingdom 7.1 78.4 5.4 40.3 55.7 27147
Laos 5.4 54.7 1.0 40.3 36.5 1759
Benin 5.4 54.0 1.0 40.1 29.3 1115
Canada 7.6 80.0 6.4 39.8 60.8 30677
Pakistan 4.3 63.0 0.7 39.4 27.1 2097
Ireland 7.6 77.7 6.2 39.4 59.1 37738
Poland 5.9 74.3 3.6 39.3 43.8 11379
Norway 7.4 79.4 6.2 39.2 58.8 37670
Macedonia 4.9 73.8 2.3 39.1 36.2 6794
Israel 6.7 79.7 5.3 39.1 53.4 20033
Namibia 6.5 48.3 1.6 38.4 31.5 6180
Sweden 7.7 80.2 7.0 38.2 61.8 26750
Romania 5.2 71.3 2.7 37.7 37.1 7277
Hungary 5.7 72.7 3.5 37.6 41.4 14584
Guinea 5.1 53.7 1.0 37.4 27.4 2097
Finland 7.7 78.5 7.0 37.4 60.4 27619
Mauritania 5.3 52.7 1.1 37.3 27.9 1766
Kazakhstan 5.8 63.2 2.8 36.9 36.8 6671
Togo 4.9 54.3 0.9 36.9 26.4 1696
Kenya 5.6 47.2 0.9 36.7 26.3 1037
Czech Republic 6.4 75.6 5.0 36.6 48.4 16357
France 6.6 79.5 5.8 36.4 52.5 27677
Armenia 3.7 71.5 1.0 36.1 26.5 3671
Singapore 6.9 78.7 6.2 36.1 54.3 24481
Slovakia 5.4 74.0 3.6 35.8 40.0 13494
Greece 6.3 78.3 5.4 35.7 49.3 19954
Tanzania 5.5 46.0 0.9 35.1 25.2 621
Guinea-Bissau 5.4 44.7 0.7 35.1 24.1 711
Portugal 6.1 77.2 5.2 34.8 47.1 18126
Eritrea 4.4 53.8 0.7 34.5 23.7 849
Bahrain 7.2 74.3 6.6 34.4 53.5 17479
Australia 7.3 80.3 7.7 34.1 58.6 29632
Mali 5.3 47.9 1.1 33.7 25.1 994
Mozambique 5.4 41.9 0.7 33.0 22.7 1117
Cameroon 5.1 45.8 0.9 32.8 23.5 2118
Djibouti 4.8 52.8 1.3 32.7 25.2 2086
Ethiopia 4.7 47.6 0.7 32.5 22.4 711
Bulgaria 4.3 72.2 2.7 31.6 31.0 7731
Nigeria 5.5 43.4 1.2 31.1 23.7 1050
Moldova 3.5 67.7 1.2 31.1 23.7 1510
Burkina Faso 4.7 47.5 1.1 30.1 22.5 1174
Lithuania 4.7 72.3 3.9 29.3 34.0 11702
United States of America 7.4 77.4 9.5 28.8 57.3 37562
Cote d'Ivoire 4.5 45.9 0.9 28.8 18.4 1476
Rwanda 4.4 43.9 0.7 28.3 19.5 1268
Sierra Leone 5.0 40.8 0.9 28.2 20.3 548
United Arab Emirates 7.4 78.0 9.9 28.2 57.7 22420
Angola 4.8 40.8 0.8 27.9 19.6 2344
South Africa 5.7 48.4 2.8 27.8 27.7 10346
Sudan 3.6 56.4 1.0 27.7 20.3 1910
Uganda 4.7 47.3 1.5 27.7 22.3 1457
Kuwait 7.2 76.9 9.5 27.7 55.0 18047
Latvia 4.7 71.6 4.4 27.3 33.7 10270
Niger 4.5 44.4 1.1 26.8 20.0 835
Malawi 4.6 39.7 0.7 26.7 18.3 605
Zambia 4.9 37.5 0.8 25.9 18.2 877
Central African Republic 4.9 39.3 1.1 25.9 19.3 1089
Belarus 4.0 68.1 3.2 25.8 27.2 6052
Qatar 7.0 72.8 9.5 25.5 50.6 19844
Botswana 5.4 36.3 1.3 25.4 19.7 8714
Chad 4.5 43.6 1.3 25.4 19.7 1210
Turkmenistan 4.0 62.4 3.1 24.0 25.0 5938
Equatorial Guinea 5.2 43.3 2.5 23.8 22.6 19780
Lesotho 4.3 36.3 0.6 23.1 15.5 2561
Russia 4.3 65.3 4.4 22.8 28.1 9230
Estonia 5.1 71.3 6.9 22.7 36.4 13539
Ukraine 3.6 66.1 3.3 22.2 23.8 5491
Congo, Dem. Rep. of the 3.3 43.1 0.7 20.7 12.1 697
Burundi 3.0 43.6 0.7 19.0 19.7 648
Swaziland 4.2 32.5 1.1 18.4 13.7 4726
Zimbabwe 3.3 36.9 1.0 16.6 12.2 2443

PS. If you ask me the list is complete bollox.

**Xenophon** · 12 July 2006, 09:35

What is the contract market like in the top ten?

**Pondlife** · 12 July 2006, 09:40

Well done us for coming in below Uzbekistan and Palestine.

Largies all round.

I'll be adding them to my keyword search on jobserve.

**DaveB** · 12 July 2006, 09:42

The complete report is here and is actually a rather interesting read.

**MrsGoof** · 12 July 2006, 09:49

Originally posted by Xenophon

What is the contract market like in the top ten?

#2 Columbia
If you've got your own gun and a fast getaway car then apparently quite good.

**DaveB** · 12 July 2006, 10:04

I like the property prices in Vanuatu...

Beautiful site only 15mns to town. Large block of over 1 hectare bordering an ocean beach, lush vegetation, 2 bedroom cottage, good potential for further development either as a private oceanside retreat or as a boutique resort.
AUD$360,000 ( £147,000)

**DimPrawn** · 12 July 2006, 10:14

Looks horrible.

I prefer the UK

More character.

Happiest place on Earth