We’re No. 72 in GNH but we could be better

THE nations of the world have traditionally been ranked according to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which measures the market value of goods and services produced by a nation in a given year. This year, the United States ranks first in GDP, followed by China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, India, Italy, Brazil, and Canada.

In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and use this to help guide their public policies. Thus was born the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, based on six factors – per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make choices, generosity, and absence of corruption in government and business.

In the GNH list of 155 countries this year, Norway ranks first, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia. GDP topnotcher United States is only No. 14 in GNH, while China is No. 79.

“Happy countries are the ones that have a healthy balance of prosperity, as conventionally measured, and social capital, meaning a high degree of trust in a society, low in inequality, and confident in government,” Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) which prepared the study and the list for the United Nations, said.

The Nordic countries were highest in the GNH list. In the view of Meik Wiking, chief executive officer of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, what appeared to be working in these countries of Northern Europe is “a sense of community and understanding in the common good.”

As may have been expected, Syria and Yemen where civil wars, fired up by religious animosity, have been raging for years now are among the nations at the bottom of the list, along with many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

In our part of the world – East and Southeast Asia – Singapore ranks highest in the list; it is No. 26. Thailand is No. 32; Taiwan, No. 33; Malaysia, No. 42; Japan, No. 51; South Korea No. 56; and Hong Kong No. 71. The Philippines ranks No. 72.

That places us at about the center of the list of 155 nations in the study. For a country that tells the world that “it’s more fun in the Philippines,” we really should rank much higher than 72. We could probably go higher in the list if we could improve our score on the sixth factor used in measuring GNH – absence of corruption in government and business.