PORTUGAL ISN’T exactly one of the best places to live if you value your happiness, according to a new survey by the New Economics Foundation.
The European Happy Planet Index of 30 countries puts Portugal in 22nd place, below the UK (21st). Greece, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Hungary are just some of the ‘unhappier’ countries. Bottom of the list is Estonia.
The Happy Planet Index is a new global measure of the ecological efficiency with which human wellbeing is delivered. It shows that happiness doesn’t have to involve owning large amounts of money.
It also shows that people can live long and happy lives without using more than their fair share of the Earth’s resources. The new international ranking of the environmental impact and wellbeing reveals a very different picture of the wealth, and poverty, of nations.
Study results
The HPI (Happy Planet Index) considers life satisfaction, life expectancy and carbon footprints and it is calculated as an efficiency measure: how much wellbeing (in ‘happy life years’) does a country get out of the amount of carbon that can be sequestered by one global hectare of land?
In an age of climate change, the index shows a better picture of the true health and wealth of countries.
With the use of new data, the report reveals that Europe is less carbon efficient now than 40 years ago at delivering human wellbeing (relatively happy and long lives).
Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland are all at the top of the list and all are renowned for utilizing energy that is wasted in other sectors. They have moved away from their dependency on fossil fuels to produce electricity.
The founder of NEF’s Centre for Wellbeing, Nic Marks, said: “Countries like Iceland, the highest scoring nation on our index, clearly show that happiness doesn’t have to cost the earth. Iceland’s combination of strong social policies and extensive use of renewable energy demonstrate that living within our environmental means doesn’t mean sacrificing human wellbeing. In fact, it could even make us happier.”
The Index reveals that Europe is heading in a downward spiral as its carbon footprint is still growing and its level of carbon efficiency in terms of fuelling happy, long lives is lower than it was over 40 years ago.
Commenting on the index, the President of Network, the association of women in business in the Algarve, Dr Janice Russell, told The Resident: “Many of the people in Network are people who have moved here with a sense of purpose, although perhaps combined with a sense of escape, and, as such, tend to bring a lot of personally positive qualities and actively seek out the positive benefits of moving to a region.”
Life satisfaction
As a former teacher of research methods, she did question one or two aspects of the methodology used as to what constitutes life satisfaction.
She felt it was more of a sophisticated straw poll rather than a very robust set of questions, so wondered how they match to the kind of areas that would be key for Network members.
“I did come out just above average for Portugal – and one important thing to note, which may be common, is that some of the aspects of my life which challenge my stress levels are not specific to where I live.”
One question that might be very specific to Network members, she said, is the one that asks how confident we can be to receive good health care in the event of serious illness, as the resource here is inconsistent, depending to some extent on income and health insurance, ability to communicate well in Portuguese, and so on.
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