Are you happy with your country?

Post by **harmonyudon** » December 28, 2012, 8:36 pm

Happy Planet Index (HPI)

The new HPI results show the extent to which 151 countries across the globe produce long, happy and sustainable lives for the people that live in them. The overall index scores rank countries based on their efficiency, how many long and happy lives each produces per unit of environmental output.

There is no European country on the top 25 if this happy planet index. On top is Costa Rica, 2nd is Vietnam and 3rd is Columbia. Indonesia Nr 14 and Thailand Nr 20. Norway on 29th is the happiest European country, United Kingdom nr 41.

http://www.happyplanetindex.org/data/

KB_Texas · Post by **KB_Texas** » December 28, 2012, 8:46 pm

Funny...Mexico and most of central America is green, but many, many, many of the residents there wish to move north to the 'red' or 'orange' countries. I wonder if this shows bias in the way they computed their 'stoplights'?

KB

Post by **mortiboy** » December 29, 2012, 1:24 am

Happy with MY country? NO! Otherwise I'd not be here.
Britain was the pride of the world.It was good to say "IM British
Now, I'm ashamed to say. Britain is a laughing stock of the world.
All the riff raff from Europe countries with no future or prospects, allowed to stay.
Dont work, just ponce off the government. Money sent back to their Family.
Give me a union Jack, i'd burn the basterd. disgusting.
All is done to take care foreigner and the real born and bred taxed to the hilt to support them.
Thailand got it right! Unless you got a Business, or in high position, You cant work here.
Why? because Thailand take care Their own. Why give work to foreigner when Thais them self got no work,
England is fooked.and getteing worse. I am so glad I got away from there .
The Government are mugs, and the public pay the price

Post by **Aardvark** » December 29, 2012, 4:58 am

Iceland, Papua and South Korea don't score at all. What does that mean ??

Post by **pienmash** » December 29, 2012, 8:04 am

mortiboy wrote:Happy with MY country? NO! Otherwise I'd not be here.
Britain was the pride of the world.It was good to say "IM British
Now, I'm ashamed to say. Britain is a laughing stock of the world.
All the riff raff from Europe countries with no future or prospects, allowed to stay.
Dont work, just ponce off the government. Money sent back to their Family.
Give me a union Jack, i'd burn the basterd. disgusting.
All is done to take care foreigner and the real born and bred taxed to the hilt to support them.
Thailand got it right! Unless you got a Business, or in high position, You cant work here.
Why? because Thailand take care Their own. Why give work to foreigner when Thais them self got no work,
England is fooked.and getteing worse. I am so glad I got away from there .
The Government are mugs, and the public pay the price

An accurate post Roy ,, agree .

Add to the above that the UK taxpayer are in effect still sending aid all over the world including India adds to the shambolic state of the once Great nation ....... i personally dont even think of Britain as my home now and chatting with my daughter confirms how bad things are and worsening ..... the laws being thrown in the mix by another inept government just add insult to injury IMO .

mash

Post by **mykthemin** » December 29, 2012, 8:17 am

mortiboy wrote:Happy with MY country? NO! Otherwise I'd not be here.
Britain was the pride of the world.It was good to say "IM British
Now, I'm ashamed to say. Britain is a laughing stock of the world.
All the riff raff from Europe countries with no future or prospects, allowed to stay.
Dont work, just ponce off the government. Money sent back to their Family.
Give me a union Jack, i'd burn the basterd. disgusting.
All is done to take care foreigner and the real born and bred taxed to the hilt to support them.
Thailand got it right! Unless you got a Business, or in high position, You cant work here.
Why? because Thailand take care Their own. Why give work to foreigner when Thais them self got no work,
England is fooked.and getteing worse. I am so glad I got away from there .
The Government are mugs, and the public pay the price

Very well said, I agree 100% all the european riff raff and anyone who wants a free hand out, what a total disgrace!

Post by **FrazeeDK** » December 29, 2012, 8:36 am

what utter twaddle. Western Countries with a high perception of well-being and high life expectancy pushed down the list because of the eco-consumption as determined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)... so any nation with a high Eco footprint is considered to be "less happy"...

The index uses global data on life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint.

in a formula of life expectancy X Experienced well-being divided by Eco-footprint = HPI...

Each of these components is based on a separate measure:

Experienced well-being.
If you want to know how well someone’s life is going, your best bet is to ask them directly. In this year’s HPI, experienced well-being is assessed using a question called the ‘Ladder of Life’ from the Gallup World Poll. This asks respondents to imagine a ladder, where 0 represents the worst possible life and 10 the best possible life, and report the step of the ladder they feel they currently stand on.

Life expectancy.
Alongside experienced well-being, the HPI includes a universally important measure of health – life expectancy. We used life expectancy data from the 2011 UNDP Human Development Report

Ecological Footprint.
The HPI uses the Ecological Footprint promoted by the environmental charity WWF as a measure of resource consumption. It is a per capita measure of the amount of land required to sustain a country’s consumption patterns, measured in terms of global hectares (g ha) which represent a hectare of land with average productive biocapacity.

Post by **GT93** » April 5, 2013, 1:14 pm

I'm surprised at the postings by the Brits. As a foreigner I would have diagnosed your problems as a useless Chancellor of the Exchequer and totally incompetent bankers. I think your wounds are largely self-inflicted and not caused by immigrants. In most countries immigrants have to work their arse off to survive. If you let them sign up for the dole the day they arrive you are bananas. But you choose to run the Uk this way in the sense that the politicians you elect enacts these laws. You've also lost your claim to be champion whingers. I reckon the Aussies are better at that now.

Post by **ronan01** » April 5, 2013, 1:45 pm

GT93 wrote:I'm surprised at the postings by the Brits. As a foreigner I would have diagnosed your problems as a useless Chancellor of the Exchequer and totally incompetent bankers. I think your wounds are largely self-inflicted and not caused by immigrants. In most countries immigrants have to work their arse off to survive. If you let them sign up for the dole the day they arrive you are bananas. But you choose to run the Uk this way in the sense that the politicians you elect enacts these laws. You've also lost your claim to be champion whingers. I reckon the Aussies are better at that now.

How can you tell when a British Airways jet has arrived?
The whining continues after the engines shut down.

Post by **GT93** » April 5, 2013, 2:09 pm

Ronan01, it's probably more accurate to replace "British Airways" with "Qantas" now. Australia hasn't had a recession since 1990 - 1991 and you'd think their economy was as bad as the Brit's. Man the Aussie whingeing is never ending. This must be one reason there are so many Aussies being naugthy boys inThailand - they're so depressed at home and they need some cheerful Thai lasses to cheer them up. A Thai lass in the short term is better than Prozac. Longer term, Prozac is probably much cheaper.

Post by **jim beam** » April 5, 2013, 2:15 pm

Absolutely disgraceful set of posts...

What a wonderful and beautiful "country" England is...
The O.P.'S question was "Are you happy with your country...?" NOT ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR GOVERMENT

Post by **ronan01** » April 5, 2013, 2:18 pm

GT93 wrote:Ronan01, it's probably more accurate to replace "British Airways" with "Qantas" now. Australia hasn't had a recession since 1990 - 1991 and you'd think their economy was as bad as the Brit's. Man the Aussie whingeing is never ending. This must be one reason there are so many Aussies being naugthy boys inThailand - they're so depressed at home and they need some cheerful Thai lasses to cheer them up. A Thai lass in the short term is better than Prozac. Longer term, Prozac is probably much cheaper.

Qantas has merged with Emirates and no longer serve pork on the Oz-Europe route - so there goes the bacon and egg breakfast, BLT's and a good old bacon butty before hitting London.

Prozac - have been told you get that happy you forget you have a jerk and what to do with it!

Post by **ronan01** » April 5, 2013, 2:24 pm

A bit dubious that Iraq and Syria score higher than Aus (or similar)

Post by **GT93** » April 5, 2013, 2:32 pm

Thanks for the tip about Prozac Ronan01. So next time I'm visiting Thailand I shouldn't be taking Prozac. However if I'm flying Qantas to Europe I should be full of Prozac to stop me getting into trouble in Dubai or wherever Qantas is now calling home in the Middle East. I don't think Aussies full of Prozac could be happy in either Dubai or Sydney. Perth or Nana Plaza might be a better bet.

Post by **JoeR** » April 5, 2013, 3:04 pm

I am from Austin Texas the state capitol still a some what small city great food and live music "I love it"! But the truth of all America is the cost of everything,it's just crazy. Just the basics for one week makes it almost impossible to save anything,I am an electrician and my wages are no bad but the cost of everthing just keeps going up. I love Thailand and Udon Thani and love the simple life I have here,I consider myself to be very lucky to be here.

Post by **WBU ALUM** » April 5, 2013, 3:23 pm

JoeR wrote:I love Thailand and Udon Thani and love the simple life I have here,I consider myself to be very lucky to be here.

Agree.

As a born and raised Texan, I now consider my country to be Thailand. I am happy with my country.

Post by **harmonyudon** » April 5, 2013, 4:45 pm

Where in the world can you book a room for 160bht with room service and round the corner of that hotel choose a young lao beauty to please you in your cheap room for a fee for which you are not able to buy 2pack of cigarettes in europe?

Where in the world can you see 'Joe the plumber' in action giving away ladydrinks and ringing the bells after parking his hired car while he go by bicycle to his work in farangland with his louzy punds or usd's and talk like he knows it all cause he has been travelling to asia for the last 20 years but forget to mention that he never lived here...hehehe

Where in the world can you drive on for a louzy 200baht without helmet and get a nice smile back for the man in uniform?

Where in the world can you find a shop with a parkview like CherChim hehehehe and get a breakfast buffet with jus d'orange for a louzy 150 baht in a nice hotel in the centre with a swmming pool?

Only few examples here, but visiting other places and countries can be refreshing if you live in Udon, so don't be stucked in udon. Perhaps I forget somme comma's above but did nor forget my brains while living in udon, maybe my little head between my legs.

Post by **douglas** » April 5, 2013, 5:54 pm

Hi,
Mort.There is no such flag, in this world, as the Union Jack. Its correct name is the Union Klag. Flown on the Jack Staff of a boat. This is how people give it the wrong name. Sorry or being so padantic, but lets get things right, or the truth will be lost forever.
GT got it spot on in his posts. Agree with him 100 percent.
Doug. A Old sea dog.

Post by **Laan Yaa Mo** » April 5, 2013, 6:48 pm

Yeah, despite some problems similar to those posted by the unhappy British, overall Canada is not bad despite the long winters.

By the way, the Union flag is one of Canada's two official flags. The other is the Maple Leaf flag.

I disagree with people who say that the U.K. is the laughing stock of the world. That is not the case in Canada, and many people around the world still admire it.

When I was much younger Poland, Italy and many African countries were the ones to be laughed at. Now, Zimbabwe and North Korea probably stand tallest in the laughing stock countries of the world category.

Post by **Bonanza** » April 6, 2013, 7:02 am

Hi Douglas, sorry to be pedantic (not padantic), but it is Union Flag, not Union Klag

Let's get things right