Those of
us who live here had figured this out already, hadn’t we? But isn’t it
fantastic to have official confirmation of it? And besides, to learn that the entire country feels the same
way!
The
revealing study conducted by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), entitled, “The
Happy Planet Index: Why good lives don’t have to cost the Earth”, is
the second of its kind and it took place at a global level representing 99% of
the Earth’s population. The first
one was done in 1961, but with very different results.
While
the “most famous” part of this analysis is the perception
of happiness of the inhabitants of specific nations, the overall study is a
detailed analysis of the level of ecological and social efficiency of each
country. The study compares the
economic development and the consumption levels of each nation in comparison to
their life expectancy and perception of quality of life.
The
surprise is that the findings revealed a result much different from what was
anticipated. In fact, the study
exposed that the nations that were deemed most “successful “ in the 1961 study,
received some of the lowest scores in this recent study, while countries with
lower growth rates ranked higher in most aspects of citizen satisfaction.
In
1961, the United States, China and India were the 3 happiest countries on
the planet.
Today,
however, these same countries, following several decades of development models
based on a continuous growth rate, are ranked a lot lower on the charts. China ranked in 20th; India
in 35th and the United States is now in 114th place.
This
is how the authors of the study summarized the receding position of those
nations:
“The
race during the last decades to continually increase their income level has
been achieved at the expense of the social and environmental capital, causing
negative consequences to the mental health of their citizens.”
Costa
Ricans by contrast, report the highest perception of happiness amongst all
nations polled and the best part is that the country attains this
with a very small ecological footprint. That is, Costa Rican’s achieve satisfaction by consuming only the
portion of Earth’s natural resources that rightfully correspond to them.
Once
more, Costa Rica with its model of society so unique, shows
the world a viable alternative of development.
This
time the message is not only one of peace and respect for the environment, but
also one of something even more complex and perhaps much more elusive: People’s
happiness.
Again,
the eyes of the world are focused on this little mound of earth, only
this time they are more anxious to listen to and imitate its recipes. Completely unintentionally, Costa Rica
awakened the curiosity of the planet and without need for a single word, it
launched an invitation to other countries to discover the wisdom hidden in its
simpler life style.
Who
wouldn’t be curious to discover for themselves the recipe for happiness?
Who
wouldn’t want to know how this economy manages to be solid and alive, and still
do so with a low level ecological footprint and a high degree of satisfaction
amongst its citizens?
Or as
the authors of the study put it, “What is the recipe to attain happy
lives... without costing the planet?”
It
appears that Costa Rica has found an answer.
As
usual, those of you who are curious are very welcome to come and enjoy for
yourself...
