The Happy Planet Index, a rating of human well-being and environmental impact published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), showed that people can live long, happy lives without using more than their fair share of the Earth's resources, AssA-Irada informs.

The Republic of Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific area called Melanesia, topped the list of 178 countries surveyed. Colombia and Costa Rica ranked second and third respectively, followed by the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Zimbabwe received the lowest rating based on a scale of 1-10 (1 being 'dissatisfied', 10 'satisfied'), as 29.4 per cent of Zimbabweans rated themselves at 1 and only 5.7 per cent rate themselves at 10.

Among other former Soviet republics, Kyrgyzstan was ahead of other nations, with the 19th rating. Tajikistan ranked 25th, Uzbekistan 59th, Georgia 101st, Kazakhstan 125th, Armenia 126th, Moldova and Lithuania 147th, Latvia 160th, Belarus 165th, Turkmenistan 169th and the largest ex-USSR republic Russia – 172nd.

The happiness index in the world's industrialized nations, referred as G8, was rather low. The UK ranked 108th, just below Libya, but above Laos, while the USA - 150th, Italy 68th, Germany 81st, Japan 95th, Canada 111th, and France 129th.

/AzerNEWS/