Tools & Tips
The Happiest Place on Earth

In 2006 researchers at the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth created a new measure of human happiness that shows which countries lead the world in promoting satisfaction. And the winner is not who you'd expect: Vanuatu, a string of islands in the Pacific. Second place? Colombia (another surprise since Colombia is a country known for bloody terrorists and cocaine traffickers.) The reason the small island country of Vanuatu is at the top is for a couple important reasons: life expectancy is long and close to that of Western nations, strong democratic traditions exist, there is careful conservation of natural resources, and a general high degree of well-being is reported by its citizens. The research also revealed that the world's leading economic powers fared only so-so in the rankings. One thing that was common in wealthy countries was a high level of alienation reported by citizens. More significant was the measure of wealthy countries ecological footprint, which put countries like Japan, the UK, Canada, Russia, and the US at the bottom of the happy list.

For more information on world happiness rankings:
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/