This morning as I was scouring the South China Morning Post I came across an interesting and controversial article. The piece centered around a ‘happiness index’ published by the New Economic Foundation. Essentially, the index was created using methodology that could somehow objectively measure and compare happiness across nations. I won’t go into the specifics of the methodology but I would like to address some of the surprising results.
It came to much of my surprise that all but one of the top ten “happiest” countries were in Latin America. I understand that developed nations have their issues, however, I was absolutely shocked as I began to scrutinize the list more closely. After a reasonable analysis and applied common sense I now have no hesitation to maintain that this particular index is nothing short of ridiculous and these findings ought to be dismissed- if not discredited. Due to limited space I can only share with you a general idea of my thought process, but I think it should suffice.
I begin with the alleged 3rd happiest country in the world: Jamaica. This small Caribbean nation has just around 2.6 million inhabitants but yet suffers from an average 5 murders a day. Or better put Jamaica has a murder rate of more than 30 out every 100,000 people. In other words, for every million people more than 300 people will be murdered! Furthermore, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK there is a prevalence rate of HIV of around 1.6% of the population- and a monthly GDP per capita of less that US$420! But of course the ills of the developed world are much worse.
Maybe Jamaica was a fluke. Colombia is ranked as the 6th happiest nation in the world. Keep in mind that Colombia has the highest murder rate in the world with over 60 for every 100,000 people. Violent drug cartels have riddled the nation for nearly 40 years resulting in tens of thousands of kidnappings, countless deaths, mine fields, etc. Should I even mention FARC? The leftist faction responsible for nearly a three decade civil war financed with drugs. Several sources have claimed that this South American nation is one of the most dangerous countries in the world- yet happy nonetheless.
I move on to Cuba- and as a Cuban-American living in the States I may be a bit biased. Biased- yet realistic. How is it that a nation that has suffered from a tyrannical dictatorship for 50 years has managed to creep into the top ten? Interesting. What was the logic? If I may quote the New Economic Foundation directly, “average life expectancy is only two months shorter than in the nearby USA, but with one seventh the level of GDP per capita.” Where do I begin? First, political prisoners are locked away for 20 years at a time for dissent. Second, there are summer long blackouts to conserve energy. Third, there are food rations in order to limit consumption. Fourth, there are inexplicable restrictions on internet and information from abroad. Cuba was recently ranked in the Index of Economic Freedom as the 3nd to last freest economy in the world in front of Zimbabwe and North Korea. Nearly one million Cubans have emigrated from Cuba to the United States since Castro’s claim to power- yet Cuba is the 9th happiest nation- far ahead of the US, Hong Kong and other developed nations.
I could go on and on. Like how in the Dominican Republic there are small mountainous regions where families live in shacks with no floors infested with rodents or how in Honduras there was a recent coup d’état. But that isn’t the point- I believe that happiness is ultimately subjective and is defined differently by every individual- devising an objective methodology to compare happiness seems to be futile right from the beginning, however, this for me is not the issue. In my humble opinion, in masking the real problems these impoverished nations face the New Economic Foundation is undermining human rights abuses, poverty, freedom and, to be honest, happiness itself.
Eugenio Suarez
See the full report: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/public-data/files/happy-planet-index-2-0.pdf
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