Is it possible to measure a country's happiness? The New Economics Foundation has gone a step further and attempted to measure the planet's happiness in a new report called the "Happy Planet Index". And guess what; Central America is the happiest region of the world (see map below- green- high HPI and red- low HPI). Guatemala actually comes 8th out of 178.
The index is based on a formula using data from separate indicators: ecological footprint, life expectancy and life satisfaction. The idea is that the index represents "the efficiency with which countries convert the earth’s finite resources into wellbeing experienced by their citizens".
So what's the secret of the success of Central America in the happiness stakes? In fact, more broadly Latin America has done much better than the rest of the world. This success is in part because they dominate the high life satisfaction group.
So what's the secret of the success of Central America in the happiness stakes? In fact, more broadly Latin America has done much better than the rest of the world. This success is in part because they dominate the high life satisfaction group.
The New Economics Foundation points to social capital as the key to explaining this phenomenon, with a high percentage of Latin Americans belonging to civil society groups involved in cultural activities, sports and religion amongst others. The report mentions British writer Matt Rendell who "spends half the year in Colombia and is married to a Colombian. He offers some sociological insights, highlighting the strong social capital and digging beneath the movie-caricature of the country overrun by the drugs trade."
"One reason why people may be surprised about Colombia's position is because the Western media focuses on the country's problems but not its vibrant civil society. Colombians love music, sport, and beauty. They also have very high educational and health care standards."
It's important to point out that this report is not overlooking poverty. "Undoubtedly, a relationship exists between income and wellbeing, but after a certain, surprisingly low level of GDP is reached, the strength of this relationship declines markedly".
Finally, the factor that contributes to Central America's high ranking in this particular Happy Planet Index is its low ecological footprint. This due to relatively low levels of consumption of materials impacting on its biosphere across Mesoamerica.
This low consumption rate is the flip side to low levels of 'traditional economic' development. Whether this low consumption rate does or doesn't point to long term happiness problems, the report demonstrates what most visitors to Guatemala already know. Central America has plenty of positives to teach the rest of the world, but is rarely given the opportunity to do so. Let's hope the UK and others start listening.
UPDATE: Response in the Guatemalan Press
There was an article responding to this report in Prensa Libre (23-07-2006)- you can read it here. The tone of the article was that the report was at best inaccurate and at worst a complete joke.
To paraphrase loads, the article makes the basic point: how can a country like Guatemala which has lived through 36 years of internal conflict, suffers high levels of extreme poverty and experiences widespread insecurity be described as amongst the happiest in the world? Material wealth surely has more than a passing influence on one's happiness- is the point made by the psychologists and sociologists refered to in the article.
But is it then just a case of the grass being greener? Is the glass half empty or half full? Is it that happiness is something that's hopelessly subjective? There's probably some of these things going on here. But surely this shouldn't become a competition to see who is the most miserable!
I guess what it demonstrates overall is that we so often fall back on measures of material wealth - not because they particularly tell us anything important or definitive about a society in its entirety - but because they are measurable. Perhaps we'll just have to accept that there are things about societies across the world that just can't be compared like for like.
After all as university student, Alfredo Lopez, says: we're "jodidos con tenis" (buggered with trainers [shoes] on). Which sounds like an eloquent way of saying that life is hard but we're still going. Sound familiar to you (wherever you are in the world)?
UPDATE: Response in the Guatemalan Press
There was an article responding to this report in Prensa Libre (23-07-2006)- you can read it here. The tone of the article was that the report was at best inaccurate and at worst a complete joke.
To paraphrase loads, the article makes the basic point: how can a country like Guatemala which has lived through 36 years of internal conflict, suffers high levels of extreme poverty and experiences widespread insecurity be described as amongst the happiest in the world? Material wealth surely has more than a passing influence on one's happiness- is the point made by the psychologists and sociologists refered to in the article.
But is it then just a case of the grass being greener? Is the glass half empty or half full? Is it that happiness is something that's hopelessly subjective? There's probably some of these things going on here. But surely this shouldn't become a competition to see who is the most miserable!
I guess what it demonstrates overall is that we so often fall back on measures of material wealth - not because they particularly tell us anything important or definitive about a society in its entirety - but because they are measurable. Perhaps we'll just have to accept that there are things about societies across the world that just can't be compared like for like.
After all as university student, Alfredo Lopez, says: we're "jodidos con tenis" (buggered with trainers [shoes] on). Which sounds like an eloquent way of saying that life is hard but we're still going. Sound familiar to you (wherever you are in the world)?
