UAE ranked 123rd out of 143 nations in Happy Planet Index

London: Published last week, the Happy Planet Index ranked Costa Rica as the happiest place on earth while Zimbabwe scored the lowest.

The new global environmental report compiled by the independent British think-tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF) analysed life expectancy and general life satisfaction and set them against each nation's carbon footprint.

Saamah Abdullah, one of the authors of the Happy Planet Index, attributed the UAE's poor performance to the consumption of natural resources, which is among the world's heaviest.

Abdullah, who had been a Dubai resident for five years, pointed out that UAE had the third-highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world but added that life expectancy was quite high at 78.3 years, based on 2005 data.

An estimated 1,000 respondents in each country were asked to answer the question “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?'' with a grading between 0 and 10.

Abdullah said that the results on the Happy Planet Index will defiantly surprise its readers as wealthy, developed nations found themselves somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The best-ranked Western nation was the Netherlands at 43rd, while Britain came in 74th. The US was placed 114th, largely because of its heavy carbon footprint.

The lowest-scoring Arab country was Kuwait which stood at 128th place, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia to everyone's surprise were placed on the 12th and 13th happiest places, respectively.

More than 60,000 people downloaded the Happy Planet Index report in the first three days of its release, according to the NEF.

KSA Should be the safest and happiest country in the world to live in .... nO douBt.
Elyas Abdullah
Kannur,India
Posted: July 14, 2009, 15:12

While having a number of things to praise about UAE, it is certainly a surprising fact that UAE stands 123rd in this report. I am sure the UAE govt. will start looking into it.
Zeeshan Iqbal
Abu Dhabi,U.A.E.
Posted: July 14, 2009, 15:08

Its not exactly positive is it being the 123rd Happiest Place to live, out of a list of only 143 countries questioned.
Howard
London,UK
Posted: July 14, 2009, 14:00

Why have the authors of this report used the carbon footprint of a country as one of the factors affecting the happiness of its population? The link between the two seems very weak.
Kulah
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 14, 2009, 13:04

This is strange since couple of weeks ago we read news/ articles about Dubai as one of the worst and stressful city to live. This makes me confuse and somehow wonder what are the basis of all these studies and ratings. Is it by random only or financed by someone to make themselves feel good?
Jerry Selayro
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 14, 2009, 12:56

Ofcourse, Saudi is the great place to live in. Its in 13th place, whereas as for me, it must be in 4-5th place. Really we enjoy leaving here
Adnan
DAMMAM,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Posted: July 14, 2009, 12:28

Your news happy country is incomplete it should be linked to website name so if any body want all country list they can see
Abdul Basit
Karachi,Pakistan
Posted: July 14, 2009, 11:58