Pic: Sunrise in Singharaja Rainforest
An award winning picture of sunrise in Singharaja rainforest. This image was adjusted as the best landscape picture at the photographic competition held by Lanka independent photographers association in November 2007.

Sri Lanka 21st happiest place in the world

There are things in life that money could not buy, one of which is happiness. No amount of money can buy peace and happiness. True peace and true happiness that is.

According to the 2009 Happy Planet Index (HPI) published by the New Economics Foundation, Sri Lanka is the 21st happiest place in the world.

The HPI index measures happiness combining life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption.

Costa Rica is the happiest place in the world, followed by Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil and Honduras.

Completing the top 25 are: 1. Nicaragua, 2. Egypt, 3. Saudi Arabia, 4. Philippines, 5. Argentina, 6. Indonesia, 7. Bhutan, 8. Panama, 9. Laos,

10. China , 11. Morocco , 12. Sri Lanka , 13. Mexico , 14. Pakistan , 15. Ecuador .

Malaysia is in 33rd place. Thailand (41). Singapore (49). Korea (68). Japan (75). Hongkong (84).

Andrew Simms, NEF`s policy director, said the index `addresses the relative success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life while respecting the environmental resource limits on which all our lives depend.`

Nic Marks, the head of NEF`s centre for wellbeing, added: `It is clear that no single nation listed in the Happy Planet Index has got everything right.

`But the index does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve long and happy lives for all, whilst living within our environmental means,` he said, according to British daily The Guardian. `The challenge is: can we learn the lessons and apply them?`

Rich, developed nations fared poorly. The highest placed Western nation was the Netherlands at 43rd. The United Kingdom was at 74th, well behind Germany , Italy and France , but ahead of Japan and Ireland . The USA fared particularly poorly at 114th of the 143 countries surveyed.

The index attempts to measure how well countries use their resources to deliver longer lives, greater physical well-being and satisfaction for their populations. The report sets out a `Happy Planet Charter`, calling for an unprecedented collective global effort to develop a new narrative of human progress, encourage good lives that do not cost the earth, and reduce consumption in the highest-consuming nations. It also calls on Governments to measure people`s well-being and environmental impact consistently and regularly, and develop a framework to achieve sustainable well-being