Proof that money can’t buy you happiness

Zimbabwe has been placed last for the second year running in a league table ranking 178 countries by how happy and long-lived their citizens are. But South Africa is not far ahead, at 156th.

The European Happy Planet Index used carbon efficiency, life satisfaction and life expectancy to rate the countries.

Zimbabwe received a 16,4 HPI rating and South Africa 27,8, compared with the 68,21 of the top-ranked nation, the Pacific island of Vanuatu.

The survey, published by the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth, makes it clear that wealth does not necessarily make people happy.

The world’s richest nation, the United States, is ranked 150th and the United Kingdom 108th, while lowly Cuba is ranked sixth. Central America does particularly well, with Costa Rica third, Panama fifth, Honduras seventh and Guatemala eighth.

Small and modestly well-off Iceland tops the European stakes at an overall 58. The highest-placed African countries are Tunisia (21), Cape Verde (46) and Ghana (68).

The survey also reveals that Europe is now worse at creating wellbeing than it was 40 years ago.

‘Countries like Iceland clearly show that happiness doesn’t have to cost the earth,” said Nic Marks, founder of the foundation’s Centre for Wellbeing. ‘Its combination of strong social policies and extensive use of renewable energy demonstrates that living within our environmental means doesn’t mean sacrificing human wellbeing.”

The Scandinavian countries do best in Europe, with Sweden second, Norway third and Denmark sixth. Immediately above Estonia, at the bottom of the table, are Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Greece.

Andrew Simms, the foundation’s head of climate change, said countries with a strong market-led economic model fared least well. ‘What is the point if we burn vast quantities of fossil fuels to make, buy and consume ever more stuff, without noticeably benefiting our wellbeing?” he asked.

Iceland has its own sustainable energy source, via the volcanic geology, and its government commits more resources to health than any other country in Europe.

Luxembourg is the worst country for its carbon footprint and the United Kingdom comes fourth from the bottom on that rating. Europe as a whole has almost three times its ‘fair” global share of carbon emissions.