The Happy Planet Index

The Happy Planet Index, NEF’s original global measure of progress published in 2006, revealed for the first time that happiness doesn’t have to cost the Earth.

It showed that people can live long, happy lives without using more than their fair share of the Earth’s resources. The international ranking of the environmental impact and well-being revealed a very different picture of the wealth, and poverty, of nations.

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) strips the view of the economy back to its absolute basics: what we put in (resources), and what comes out (human lives of different length and happiness).

The resulting Index of the 178 nations for which data is available, reveals that the world as a whole has a long way to go.

In terms of delivering long and meaningful lives within the Earth’s environmental limits — all nations could do better. No country achieves an overall ​‘high’ score on the Index, and no country does well on all three indicators.