Vietnam overtakes Asia’s leading position of Bhutan in the happiness index

Vietnam is one of just three countries in the top ten Happy Planet Index rankings with an Ecological Footprint that is small enough to be considered environmentally sustainable.

Vietnam has surpassed Bhutan to become the fifth happiest country in the world and ranks the second position in Asia-Pacific, Russian newspaper Sputnik reported.

The given information is based on the recently released data by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), U.K.

According to the NEF, the country with the highest Happy Planet Index (HPI) is Costa Rica (44.7), which ranks number one among 140 countries and territories. Countries in the top five are Mexico (40.7), Columbia (40.7), Vanuatu (40.6), and Vietnam (40.3).
Bhutan, the renowned Himalaya country that is considered as “the happiest kingdom in the world” with several million people living in peace and tranquility, beautiful natural scenery at the foot of the “world roof”, according to the NEF’s index, is only ranked 56th in the world and 13th in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Vietnam ranks fifth in the Happy Planet Index results, and second in the Asia Pacific region,” the HappyPlanetIndex.org affirmed.

According to the website, this South-East Asian country, characterized by its mountains and tropical forests, has a strikingly low Ecological Footprint and economic output per head almost 24 times smaller than nearby Hong Kong.
Vietnam is one of just three countries in the top ten Happy Planet Index rankings with an Ecological Footprint that is small enough to be considered environmentally sustainable.

So, what’s working well in Vietnam?

While wellbeing in Vietnam is more modest than in other countries in the top ten HPI rankings, its average wellbeing score is still higher than Hong Kong’s – despite the Vietnamese economy being significantly smaller and Vietnam’s Ecological Footprint being less than a fifth of the size of Hong Kong's.

Vietnam has an impressive average life expectancy. Both Vietnam and Gambia have similar sized economies with similar levels of GDP per capita, yet on average, people from Vietnam live more than 17 years longer.
Vietnam’s inequality of outcomes rating, which measures inequality in wellbeing and life expectancy scores within the country, is better than that of HPI number 1 Costa Rica - a likely testament to Vietnam’s robust public service provision. School enrollment is among the highest in the world at 98% in 2012, and the number of colleges and universities continues to grow rapidly.

Vietnam is on a steep development trajectory. The country has been hailed as a global poster child for poverty reduction - the number of people living in poverty fell from 58% in 1993 to 10.7% in 2010.