Pakistan among top 20 happiest countries, beating India, US: Report

Life expectancy, experienced well-being of Pakistan found to be mediocre, but ecological footprint termed “good”.


Ema Anis October 03, 2012

KARACHI: Pakistan ranked 16th among 151 countries of the world on the Happy Planet Index (HPI) 2012, beating India and the United States which ranked 32nd and 105th respectively. Costa Rica was termed the happiest country, followed by Vietnam and Colombia.

The Happy Planet Index was calculated using life expectancy, experienced well-being and ecological footprint (per capita) of the countries with data collected from various sources including UNDP and Gallup data. The index was compiled by New Economics Foundation (NEF).

The life expectancy and experienced well-being of Pakistan was found to be mediocre, but the ecological footprint was termed “good”. The total HPI of Pakistan was calculated to be 54.1.

Israel landed just one spot above Pakistan, having “good” life expectancy and experienced well-being, but a “poor” ecological footprint.

Bangladesh was higher up on the scale at 11, with the first two factors termed mediocre and the footprint as “good”.

India was found to have mediocre life expectancy and well-being and a “good” ecological footprint. However, its total HPI amounted to 50.9.

The only reason why the US scored low was its ecological footprint which was worse than the “poor” category. The life expectancy and experienced well-being were, however, ranked “good”.

Afghanistan was ranked 109.

The countries which landed at the bottom of the Happiness Index were mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Denmark ranked the highest on the experienced well-being chart, followed by Canada and Norway.

Togo landed on the bottom of the chart.

On the life expectancy chart, Japan topped the list, followed by Hong Kong and Switzerland, while Sierra Leone gained the last spot.

Afghanistan had the best ecological footprint among all the countries, followed by Haiti and Bangladesh.

The countries with the worst ecological footprint included Qatar, Luxembourg, Kuwait, UAE, Denmark and the US.

COMMENTS (179)

Morad786 | 11 years ago | Reply

Ignorance is a bliss!

Whether its Pakistanis at Home or their detractors abroad....

Best way of comparison is to compare the quality of life from one generation to the next...

I for one have seen massive advances in our lifestyle from my grandparents to our parents, to myself and now for my kids....

The problem is the never-ending human greed and expectations for More...More...Nore...faster...and ...Faster

Plus no point comparing to Europe & US as they are a different league at present....we should play in our own league over short to medium term with a view to Premier League in the Long-Run!

Our own league is the Sub-Continent. They all have problems at time more than us and at times less than us; perhaps the Paki Bashing in global media and at home is starting to play on our mind!

rabia | 11 years ago | Reply

can this list be more ironic??

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