Vietnam ranks fifth in happiness index

by Minh Phat – VietnamNews

A global survey of “happiness” has placed Vietnam fifth out of 143 nations.

The “The Happy Planet Index 2.0: Why Good Lives Don’t Have to Cost the Earth,” released Saturday by the New Economics Foundation, also placed Vietnam at the top of the list of Asian nations.

The New Economics Foundation said the survey results don’t show how “happy” a country’s people are. Instead the survey “shows the relative efficiency with which nations convert the planet’s natural resources into long and happy lives for their citizens.”

The foundation weighed the life expectancy and people’s perceived happiness against their environmental impact in the 143 countries that are home to 99 percent of the world’s population.

In the latest “sustainable well-being” survey, the Central American nation of Costa Rica topped the index, followed by the Caribbean island nations of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
Guatemala in Central America was fourth on the list.

The New Economics Foundation said people living in the number five country on the index, Vietnam, had a life expectancy of 73.7 years. The survey also found 65 percent of Vietnamese people said they were happy and satisfied with their lives.

In the number one country, Costa Rica, people had an average life expectancy of 78.5 years and 85 percent of those surveyed said they were happy.

Developed nations performed poorly in the index, largely because of environmental factors.
Italy ranked 69th, France 71st, Britain 74th, Japan 75th, Canada 89th, Australia 102nd, Russia 108th and the U.S. 114th.

Zimbabwe was last at number 143.

However, sociologist Andrea Fonseca cautioned happiness could not be calculated just by looking at life expectancy and environmental practices.

Fonseca said Vietnam’s high happiness rating “has a lot to do with social imagination.” Costa Rica has a peaceful reputation as it does not have an army and its national slogan is “pure life,” she said.

Nic Marks, founder of the New Economics Foundation’s center for well-being, urged nations to make a collective global change before “our high-consuming lifestyles plunge us into the chaos of irreversible climate change.”

Last year, global market research firm Nielsen announced Vietnam had the highest level of happiness in the Asia-Pacific region.