I recently looked over the world happiness index and it made me unhappy. But first a little background information is needed.
The WHI "balances" life expectancy, life satisfaction, and "ecological footprint." A ranked list of the countries by WHI and an interactive map are available.
The problem with the ecological footprint enters in the picture when China is described as being green. Just ask TDAXP how green China is. Giving ecological footprint equal status with life expectancy and satisfaction mess everything up.
Here's part of the list with my thoughts (links go to CIA World Factbook)
1. Vanuatu - Score of 68.2- If I was from the South Pacific I would be pretty happy too.
2. Columbia - 67.2 - Are they not suffering from a 60-some year old civil war?
6. Cuba - 61.9 - Tyrant with mass emigration. Maybe all the sad people left
China - 56 - No words need
East Timor - 52 - Still in the top tier without a government, that's a triumph
Haiti - 43.3 - Getting close to the middle of the list
Spain - 43 - How the heck did they lose to Haiti?!? Red flag alert!
Saudi Arabia - 42.7 - ?????
Libya and UK - 40.3 - Tie? What the $#@&
France - 36.4 - I knew being full-blooded Formage was bad but dang
United States - 28.8 - That explains why Americans are emigrating all over the world; wait...
Kuwait and Sudan - 27.7 - One's an oil rich moderate country with semi-democracy; the other is a hell hole going through a holocaust. But the genocidal country is green so it is all equal
Zimbabwe - 16.6 - I can agree with this one
After review the travesty of a list I tried my personal happiness index. My index number was 42.4 which I was told is the same as Cambodia. Now I have some bad memories but the worst day of my life did not involve Pol Pot and the mass murder of three million people! If I had the same happiness as Cambodia I would be one depressed individual. On a plus note I had a life expectancy of 89 years. Death Clock said I would die when I was 73 on a Christmas Eve (which is really bad because I would not open any Christmas presents).
Hat Tip:
Geography@About.comCategory:
GeoInfo
2 comments:
is not colUmbia, is colOmbia with an O!!!!
Happiness is a Swedish sunset -- it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it.Nice Comment!
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