The 2012 Happy Planet Index (HPI) was issued earlier today, and Costa Rica tops the list as the happiest country on Earth. The HPI is compiled and release by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), an independent think tank based in the United Kingdom that focuses economic well-being. The NEF describes the HPI as a report that measures and focuses on what really matters: sustainable well-being and how nations are doing in terms of supporting their inhabitants to live good lives now, while ensuring that others can do the same in future.

According to the official press release by the NEF, the HPI is the leading global measure of sustainable well-being. The rationale for the index is described by the foundation as a new measure of human progress. It considers the following empirical data:

“[… ]the extent to which countries deliver long, happy, sustainable lives for the people that live in them. The 2012 HPI report, published today, ranks 151 countries based on their efficiency – the extent to which each nation produces long and happy lives per unit of environmental input.”

The headline indicator of the HPI report is described by the simple formula of happy life years divided by the ecological footprint. The HPI is, in essence, a measure of efficiency. Costa Rica may top the list, but the overall report:

“confirms that we are still not living on a happy planet with no country achieving high and sustainable well-being and only nine are close to doing so.

The HPI is a headline indicator that provides an overall picture, but countries which do well on the HPI can still suffer many problems. Other indicators will also be necessary to fully assess how societies are doing. nef (the new economics foundation) has developed a measurement framework of which HPI is one component; it sits alongside other measures such as economic performance and environmental pressure.”

Nations in Latin America and the Caribbean top the list, even though many of them, like Costa Rica, are still considered Third World nations with very modest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output.

The United Kingdom is listed at position number 41 on the list, while the United States scored 105 out of 151 nations.

In previous years, the HPI has seen its fair share of criticism, but the interest in the overall happiness of the population and the interaction between state of mind, social welfare, and the environment has recently increased. Nations such as Costa Rica and Bhutan are now consulted by member states of the United Nations on policy-making advice that can directly appeal to the happiness of the people.