Costa Rica Is 'Happiest Place' In World

All Headline News ^ | July 6, 2009 | Windsor Genova

[Diana in Wisconsin]

London, U.K. (AHN) - A research group in Britain has chosen Costa Rica as the happiest place in the world citing its content people, long life expectancy and tiny carbon footprint due to the use of renewable energy.

The Central American country topped the Happy Planet Index published on Monday by the New Economics Foundation, a British think-tank. The index measured the ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy of 143 countries.

According to the HPI, life expectancy in Costa Rica is 78.5 years and 99 percent of its energy comes from renewable resources.

NEF started conducting the survey for the HPI in 2006.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Happy Planet Index:

http://www.happyplanetindex.org/

[MadIsh32]

If you ever visit Costa Rica, you realize that one is it very beautiful and that people have the most laid back relaxed attitude in the world.

Myself being so high strung, I don’t think I’d be able to live in Costa Rica, but visiting it I can see why people would be happy

Very few worries in the world. Just wake up, relax on a beautiful beach on the Pacific or Gulf, and take care of your family

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Someone wrote that in CR, if you want something done on Monday, figure it will happen by Thursday or Friday.

[KarlInOhio]

99 percent of its energy comes from renewable resources.

I think this is wrong. If they are talking about electricity production then they are probably right because they have a huge hydroelectric dam producing a lot of electricity, but from what I have seen the figure for electricity production was moved to "total energy" somewhere along the line without considering transportation fuel.

[KarlInOhio]

Someone wrote that in CR, if you want something done on Monday, figure it will happen by Thursday or Friday.

A country that doesn't like the breakneck ugency of mañana?

[bgill]

And they don’t have Hussein or Nancy.

[McGruff]

I've heard it's a hit amongst ExPats. And the fishing is great.

[SAJ]

As a Salvadorean friend of mine once told me, manana doesn't mean ''tomorrow''; it means ''not today!''.

;^)

[behzinlea]

It's an environmentalist whackjob ranking as measured by environmentalist luddite measures: small carbon foot print etc. Accordingly, paradise (countries coded "green") starts in Tijuana and stretches to Bogota. That's right. A lot of folks think of those places--Nicaragua, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico--as second or third world hellholes (although Costa Rica is an exception). But not the happy planet people!

The wicked US, of course, is coded a deep shameful red.

[Dixie Yooper]

Obama must hate Costa Rica. Sounds to me like they need to spread some of their wealth to other Latin American regimes...

[cripplecreek]

If they are talking about electricity production then they are probably right because they have a huge hydroelectric dam producing a lot of electricity

The eco gestapo won't allow that to continue forever.

[Puppage]

Very few worries in the world. Just wake up, relax on a beautiful beach on the Pacific or Gulf, and take care of your family

Help me out here.....just how does one go about taking care of your family while relaxing on the beach?

[Texas Fossil]

I accept your description of the article as correct.

One of my wife’s close friends is from Costa Rica. We have known them since the mid 1970’s. I am told it is a beautiful place, but it is not without conflict.

I attended a meeting while I was living in NM where a young man from Costa Rica gave a talk about their nearness to Nicaragua and what that did to them. At the time I was doing battle with “liberation theology” elements from Nicaragua trying to stir up our local community in NM.

It is not so sleepy a place as the article implies.

[trisham]

Help me out here.....just how does one go about taking care of your family while relaxing on the beach?

***********************

LOL! Well done. :)

[MadIsh32]

Tending to your garden

selling stuff to tourists

have some small shop in the local town that you go to 3 days week

[dfwgator]

From South Park as they are driving through San Jose, Costa Rica:

Eric Cartman: Oh my God, it smells like ass out here.
Miss Stevens: All right, that does it. Eric Cartman, you respect other cultures this instant.
Eric Cartman: I wasn’t saying anything about their culture, I was just saying their city smells like ass.
Miss Stevens: You may think that making fun of third-world countries is funny but let me...
Eric Cartman: I don’t think it’s funny. This place is overcrowded, smelly and poor. That’s not funny, that sucks.

[TADSLOS]

LOL!

[trisham]

LOL!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Costa Rica has a tiny carbon footprint because it is mostly
jungle and is about the size of Delaware. They are laid-back because they’ve been a democracy since the mid-40’s, largely because they disbanded their military in an effort to prevent coups. If Commandante Daniel Ortega starts to militarize next-door neighbor Nicaragua, look for them to become a lot less happy.

[angcat]

I would to visit but I would not feel safe living there. Who protects them when the Island is taken over by terrorists?

[MSF BU]

Seoul had that type of foul smell, as did Panama City and Port Suez. Those are two that come to mind from my experience. My guess is that they need to invest more in their waste disposal infrastructure.

[Ditter]

Our next door neighbor does consulting work in CR, he just came back on Sunday. We are having dinner with them tomorrow, I will ask him a few questions.

[Juan Medén]

These fools have clearly never driven in San Jose during rush hour. Not only is it mind-numbing gridlock, it is also carbon drenched, nauseating fumes and the lovely hue of blueish-brown smog to obscure the mountains. None of them seemed happy to me.

[stuartcr]

Do you really fear being taken over by terrorists? On a daily basis?

[Semperfiwife]

Made a visit there. Potholes galore on the roads. Drivers zig zag around them, making for a scary taxi ride. Government corruption does not allow for money to fix the roads according to the locals on the Gulf side. Very poor living in shacks, no air conditioning. Less carbon footprint when you live like that, but what American would want to. They go build villas on the Pacific side.

[Tainan]

No Tico-land is not as "happy" as it sounds. Read up on how their current 'President' got into office. I've been there for work and play probably 15 times or more since the late '70s and even had plans of retiring there. Its a good place...but it certainly ain't heaven.
Only place I can think of that makes Jamaicans look like they're in a hurry.

[posterchild]

Only place I ever drove where, upon return, the rental car attendant checks the undercarriage of the car to verify that the suspension is intact.

[Brett66]

These lists are another form of leftist propaganda, I hate when news organizations tout these lists as a good measure of living standard based on leftist criteria.

How about using amount of income/cost of living, maybe factoring in low use of medical services along with low crime rate.

That would be pretty good criteria to go by.

[Tainan]

Who protects them when the Island is taken over by terrorists?

Uhhh...not that Costa Rica...the other one. The one between Nicaragua and Panama.

[angcat]

NO

LOL

[posterchild]

In spite of progressives ranking it highly I enjoyed my visit and will happily visit again.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“How about using amount of income/cost of living, maybe factoring in low use of medical services along with low crime rate. That would be pretty good criteria to go by.”

If they actually published those results, the stampedes to get into red counties or states would be enormous, LOL!

[Ikemeister]

Yeah, but they have some really nasty snakes.

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for the input on Costa Rica. Perspective from being “on the ground” is better.

I have been told it is one of the few “democracies” in Central America, but it is pretty socialistic. Is that accurate?

[Tainan]

Yes, they vote for and elect representatives. But the state has utimate control over most peoples lives. Cradle-to-grave type control. Keeps the ambition down.
I should mention that I do like the place. Good folks, for the most part, and a high level of education; which makes things better. But it is not a 'paradise' for daily living. Not a bad place...it has its down-side like most everywhere.
I think the term "eco-tourist" originated there.
I like the western coast...from the Golfo(Gulf) de(of) Nicoya down to the Domenical area.

[NRA1995]

They can prolly power the whole country with one of those little gas generators

[Texas Fossil]

Our friend was from Ciadada Casada near San Jose.

She was studying to be a doctor when she met her husband, he was in Costa Rica with the Peace Corp. She was from a respectable family there.

Her husband was an English professor at a State University in NM when I met them.

Great people.