The UK has been named the 'happiest nation' among G7 countries beating France & Germany
THE HAPPY PLANET INDEX rankings are in, and the UK placed extremely well, rising two places since 2018.
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The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is a study that ranks countries by wellbeing, life expectancy and sustainability. The leading global measure, the HPI has just published its new rankings.
The UK scored highly for wellbeing and life expectancy.
The country improved by two places since 2018, mainly due to its successful move towards reducing ecological footprint.
At number 14, the UK was the highest ranking G7 nation.
In comparison, Germany was 29th, France was 31st and the USA was a shocking 122nd.
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With 152 countries ranked, the 14th place of the UK is quite an achievement.
The top country was Costa Rica.
The Central America nation took the first spot for the fourth time.
Vanuatu, Switzerland, Jamaica joined seven countries from Latin America to form the top 10.
Just missing out was New Zealand at number 11.
Australia was ranked 88th.
At the bottom of the list, Qatar was 152nd.
The HPIs goal is “to compare how well nations are creating human wellbeing using their limited ecological resources”.
Statistician Nic Marks, who created the HPI, said: “Promoting human happiness doesn’t have to be at odds with creating a sustainable future.
“The HPI’s mantra is that good lives don’t have to cost the earth, and after 15 years of rankings, this feels more relevant and timely than ever.”
The HPI of a country is calculated by a country’s wellbeing being multiplied by its life expectancy and divided by its ecological footprint.
Wellbeing was defined as “how satisfied the residents say they feel with life overall, on a scale from zero to 10”.
The data was collected as part of the Gallup World Poll.
Top 20 countries on the HPI
1. Costa Rica
2. Vanuatu
3. Colombia
4. Switzerland
5. Ecuador
6. Panama
7. Jamaica
8. Guatemala
9. Honduras
10. Uruguay
11. New Zealand
12. Philippines
13. El Salvador
14. United Kingdom
15. Peru
16. Nicaragua
17. Tajikistan
18. Netherlands
19. Dominican Republic
20. Armenia