I was watching the news when I saw the Dutch crownprince and his wife visiting Bhutan. Bhutan is a very special country, which always got my interest. Bhutan has a Ministry of Happiness. They measure their Gross National Happiness which is an attempt to define quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product. It's far more important to measure this, I reckon, than economical growth...

At the news they told us that The Netherlands in terms of happiness are ranked on place number 70, while Bhutan is ranked on place 13. It made me wonder what would be the other rankings. I found them here. It turned out to be the 'Happy Planet Index'. This index is based on fairly utilitarian principles — that most people want to live long and fulfilling lives, and the country which is doing the best is the one that allows its citizens to do so. The HPI is best conceived as a measure of the environmental efficiency of supporting well-being in a given country.   Colour signifies Highest rank through to lowest rank; grey indicates information not available .

The 'happiest' is Vanuatu on place 1, Colombia on place 2 (!!!!), Costa Rica on 3, Bhutan on 13, Thailand on 32, The Netherlands on 70, United Kingdom on 108 and USA on 150.... On 178 we find Zimbabwe, the last on the list.

- just to let you know -

The United Kingdom is 108? Are you sure? Don't get me wrong, i love England but i have never thought of the people as happy there. 108 seems quite high and happy relatively speaking. Where i come from it's just full of muggy C U next Tuesdays. Kinda surprises me when i meet a Thai girl who aspires to marry a man from the UK. You couldn't be in a happier place.

No, the 1st in rank is the happiest! 108 Is quite unhappy Mike!

Great Journal..Australia looks pretty low, time for Thailand to cheer me up.lol............interesting

Interesting journal . . . thank you mate . . .

how do they measure this??

Wherever...Whenever...Still happy..Just the two of us. Oops! sorry kha nong Jum. ;P I mean you both kha.

Happy Halloween to you both na ja. Booooooooooooooo..............

17 - Philippines, where I am now.

32 - Thailand, where I seemed happier.

105 - USA, where I will be migrating soon....

darn... Will I be regressing or what? LOL

thanks for all comments...!!

Well if you go to the definition it's much about environment, poverty/wealth is not included, there is much on how they measure this if you go to the external links of those pages.... Also interesting I would say!

Wherever you are with me.. I am top of the world liefje :">

You are a sweettie <3 <3<3 xxx