[Vnbiz] Vietnam happiest country in Asia: survey [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[QuangAnh.Nguyen at dfat.gov.au]

----- Forwarded by QuangAnh Nguyen/People/DFATL on 13/07/2006 10:49 AM
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The website for the happiness index is: http://www.happyplanetindex.org
Cuba ranked number 6.


http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=17646

Vietnam happiest country in Asia: survey

Vietnam is the 12th happiest country on earth, and the happiest in Asia,
according to a study
published Wednesday that measured people’s well-being and their impact on
the environment.

The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest in the
Happy Planet Index,
compiled by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation.

Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five.

Out of Asian nations Singapore was ranked lowest at 131.

Island nations performed particularly well in the rankings. But Vanuatu,
with a population of around
200,000, topped them all.

“Don’t tell too many people, please,” said Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online,
the republic’s online
newspaper.

“People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very
little,” he told The
Guardian.

“This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and
family and goodwill to
other people. It’s a place where you don’t worry too much.”

“The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes.”

The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental
footprint—the amount of land
required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption.

Zimbabwe finished at the bottom of the 178 countries ranked, below
second-worst performer Swaziland,
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine.

The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in Saint Petersburg this weekend
but have not much to
smile about, according to the index.

Italy came out best in 66th place, ahead of Germany (81), Japan (95),
Britain (108), Canada (111),
France (129), the United States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.

Andrew Simms, the foundation’s policy director, said the index “addresses
the relative success or
failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life while respecting
the environmental
resource limits on which all our lives depend.”

Nic Marks, the center’s head for well-being, added: “It is clear that no
single nation listed in the
Happy Planet Index has got everything right.

“But the index does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve
long and happy lives for
all, whilst living within our environmental means,” he said, according to
British daily The Guardian.

“The challenge is: can we learn the lessons and apply them?”

Source: AFP