The 20 "happiest" countries (Happy Planet Index):
Costa Rica
Mexico
Colombia
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Panama
Nicaragua
Bangladesh
Thailand
Ecuador
Jamaica
Norway
Albania
Uruguay
Spain
Indonesia
El Salvador
The Netherlands
Argentina
The Philippines
It means that Switzerland, Denmark and Australia, traditionally considered among the best places in which to live, are down in 24th, 32nd and 105th, respectively, while Costa Rica takes the top spot for the second year running - ahead of Mexico and Colombia. Norway is the highest ranked European country, at 12th, the UK trails in 34th, while the US limps home in 108th.
Wealthy Western countries, often seen as the standard of success, do not rank highly on the Happy Planet Index," it explains. "Instead, several countries in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region lead the way by achieving high life expectancy and wellbeing with much smaller Ecological Footprints. The Happy Planet Index provides a compass to guide nations, and shows that it is possible to live good lives without costing the Earth."
Bottom of the pile is Chad, followed by - surprisingly - Luxembourg, a country with the second highest per capita GDP in the world.
