Happiness Generation Efficiency
I was shocked to discover that my beautiful island country Singapore was ranked 131 (out of 178) in a study called The Happy Planet Index to compare how efficient countries are in making their citizens happy.
To understand this study better, let us compare Singapore and Costa Rica:
Ecological Footprint is a measure of how much resources a country consumes and is thus an indication of the country's impact on the environment. So in this example, Costa Rica is able to achieve a higher Life Satisfaction and a similar Life Expectancy with just a third of the resources that Singapore uses, i.e. it is more efficient in generating happiness!
What about your country? Maybe it's time we ask ourselves what really constitutes happiness: do we really need so much food, material things, electricity... at the expense of the environment?
To understand this study better, let us compare Singapore and Costa Rica:
| Singapore | Costa Rica | |
|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 131 | 3 |
| Life Satisfaction | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| Life Expectancy | 78.7 | 78.2 |
| Ecological Footprint | 6.2 | 2.1 |
Ecological Footprint is a measure of how much resources a country consumes and is thus an indication of the country's impact on the environment. So in this example, Costa Rica is able to achieve a higher Life Satisfaction and a similar Life Expectancy with just a third of the resources that Singapore uses, i.e. it is more efficient in generating happiness!
What about your country? Maybe it's time we ask ourselves what really constitutes happiness: do we really need so much food, material things, electricity... at the expense of the environment?
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