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Happy Planet
Index
New Economics Foundation
Please Note
• The information detailed on these slides were
found directly from the Happy Planet Index
website at happyplanetindex.org.
• This material has been compiled by the NYC
Virtual Enterprises Office as resources to
students and teachers for educational
purposes.
Happy Planet Index
• The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is a
measure of progress. It tells us how well
nations are doing in terms of supporting
their inhabitants to live “good” lives now,
while ensuring that others can do the
same in the future. It points the way
towards sustainable well-being for all.
– Way to measure the intangible and nonmonetary aspects of society
Happy Planet Index
Until recently, we have lived with the widespread belief that the world is
steadily becoming a better place. An increasingly unstable global economy,
rising inequalities, and the pressing challenges of climate change have
begun to shatter that belief.
One cause of these interlinked crises is the stubborn prioritization of
economic growth as the central objective of government, trumping all other
objectives. People vote for political parties that they perceive to be most
capable of delivering a strong economy, and policy makers prioritize policies
that increase in GDP as a result. Doing so has led to short-termism,
deteriorating social conditions, and paralysis In the face of climate change.
In fact, GDP growth on its own does not mean a better life for everyone,
particularly in countries that are already wealthy. It does not reflect
inequalities in material conditions between people in a country. It does not
properly value the things that really matter to people like social relations,
health, or how they spend their free time. And crucially, ever-more economic
growth is incompatible with the planetary limits we are up against.
Life Expectancy
The average number of years an infant born in that
country is expected to live if prevailing patterns of agespecific mortality rates at the time of birth in the country
stay the same throughout the infant’s life. Life expectancy
is commonly used as an overall indicator of the standard
of health in a country.
Life Satisfaction
The average of all responses from within the population to
the following question: “Please imagine a ladder with
steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.
Suppose we say that the top of the ladder represents the
best possible life for you; and the bottom of the ladder
represents the worst possible life for you. On which step
of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the
present time, assuming that the higher the step the better
you feel about your life, and the lower the step the worse
you feel about it? Which step comes closest to the way you
feel?” This measure of well-being is commonly used as an
indicator of how people’s lives are going overall.
Inequality of Outcomes
A measure of how unequal the distribution of life
expectancy and experienced well-being scores are within a
particular country. The inequality of outcomes measure is
the difference in the product of mean life satisfaction and
mean experienced wellbeing, and the product of
inequality-adjusted life satisfaction and inequalityadjusted experienced well-being, expressed as a
percentage.
Ecological Footprint
The average amount of land needed, per head of population, to
sustain a typical country’s consumption patterns. It includes
the land required to provide the renewable resources people
use (most importantly food and wood products), the area
occupied by infrastructure, and the area required to absorb
CO2 emissions. Crucially it is a measure of consumption, not
production. This means that, for example, the CO2 associated
with the manufacture of a mobile phone made in China but
bought by someone living in Chile, will count towards Chile’s
Ecological Footprint, not China’s. Ecological Footprint is
expressed using a standardized unit: global hectares. A global
hectare (gha) is a biologically productive hectare with world
average productivity in a given year.
How is the Happy Planet Index
Calculated? (Pre-2016)
Note: The equation is
approximate because it leaves
out the statistical adjustments.
How is the Happy Planet
Index Calculated? (2016)
Note: The equation is approximate
because it leaves out the statistical
adjustments.
Happy Planet Index Rankings
(2012)
Happy Planet Index Rankings
(2016)
Measuring Well-Being
To measure well-being, we use data from a globally renowned survey that
asks respondents questions about how they feel their lives are going overall.
The question we use, known as the Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale or the
Ladder of Life, has been used in surveys since the 1960s, and its validity has
been demonstrated in a range of different contexts around the world.
There is a growing evidence-base showing that subjective measures of wellbeing correlate with more objective measures such as measurement of stress
hormones and brain scans. Subjective well-being has been found to
accurately predict a range of outcomes – from how long someone will stay in
a job or stay married, to how long they live, to the results of elections. As a
result, psychologists, sociologists and economists now regularly use
subjective well-being data in research, and policy makers are beginning to
use to inform decision-making
Importantly, by asking a single broad question, it allows the people
completing the survey to decide what is important to them: to assess the
issues according to their own criteria, to weight each one as they choose, and
to produce an overall response.
What do you think about these
measures?
Do you know enough about the
Happy Planet Index?
• What is the Happy Planet Index?
• Why would you use the Happy Planet Index?
• What measures are used to determine a
country’s Happy Planet Index Score?
• Can happiness be measured reliably?
• What does a country’s Happy Planet Index
score tell you about the country?