This release is available in Spanish.
Spain holds position number 16 in the world ranking of countries where people live happier for more years, according to the last update of the World Database of Happiness (WDB Hap) in whose preparation have collaborated researchers of different Spanish universities, such as the University of Granada.
The countries' quality of life is measured using an indicator of 'Happy years of life', developed by the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (Holland). This indicator combines life assessment averages life expectancy averages, and shows how many years and how happy an average citizen lives in a certain country. The ranking of the countries is periodically published in the WDB Hap.
The last ranking includes 148 countries and covers more than 95% of the world population. It is possible to draw interesting conclusions from the information included. The inhabitants of Costa Rica hold the first position of this classification, with an average of 66.7 happy years of life, followed by Icelanders (with 66.4 years) and Danish (65 'happy' years).
Zimbabwe, the unhappiest country
Zimbabwe, the country that holds the last position, is on the other side of the balance with only 12.5 happy years of life. The next one is Burundi (14.3 years) and Tanzania (14.4). Spain is at one of the first positions, with an average of 58.8 happy years of life, holding the position number 16 in the ranking of the 148 countries.
Our country exceeds its neighbours of France (52.8) and Portugal (44.6), but is also exceeded by two Latin American countries: people not only live more time and happier in Costa Rica, but also in Mexico (59.5 happy years).
All these findings shall be presented at the III OECD World Forum, held the 27-30 October in Busan (South Korea). This conference shall be focused on those indicators of social progress different to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The rate of Happy Years of Life hall be proposed as an alternative indicator.
The report of the WDB Hap (World Database of Happiness) is available at: http://www.worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/hap_nat/findingreports/RankReport2009-2d.htm
Please click here to consult a visual presentation of a world map of happiness: http://www.worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/hap_nat/maps/RR-2dmap.html
Reference: Dr Débora Godoy Izquierdo. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment of the University of Granada. Telephone number: +34 958 249 557. http://www.godoy-izquierdo.com E-mail: deborag@ugr.es
Prof Dr Ruut Veenhoven, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University of Rotterdam (Holland). Telephone number: +31 10 4082102. E-mail: veenhoven@fsw.eur.nl
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