Gateway to Latin America
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By Simon Briscoe in London / Financial Times
The top 10 in the list of "greenest and happiest" nations is dominated by Latin America and the Caribbean
That the top 10 in the list of "greenest and happiest" nations is dominated by Latin America might raise a few eyebrows, as the region is better known in the western imagination for its slums, inequality and coups.
But the Latin Americans score highly, the report suggests, due to non-material aspirations and strong social capital among friends and relatives. The grim performance of the developed world might also prompt some westerners to cast doubt over the value of the report. Among the rich nations, the highest placed country is the Netherlands — but it manages only 43rd.
Costa Rica, the country of fewer than 5m people sandwiched between Panama and Nicaragua, tops a new global ranking for combining a happy and long life with limited environmental degradation.
The country blends beautiful countryside, a great diversity of species and has long since got rid of its army. The merger of its energy and environment ministries has reversed deforestation and helped it produce 99 per cent of its energy from renewable sources. It has also scored highly, relative to other developing countries, in surveys of poverty, press freedom and democracy.
The Happy Planet Index, "Why good lives don’t have to cost the earth", published by the UK-based new economics foundation, combines measures of life expectancy, happiness and ecological footprint to assess the sustainability of growth in 143 countries.
The challenge for the west, the report says, is not to keep increasing incomes but to aim for more meaningful lives and stronger social ties. >>> Go to Full Story >>>