Costa Rica has most 'happy years'

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/10/29/Study-Costa-Rica-has-most-happy-years/UPI-93881256844290/

Published: Oct. 29, 2009 at 3:24 PM

BUSAN, South Korea, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- An update of the World Database of Happiness calculates Costa Rica is at the top of the list for quality of life in 148 countries, Dutch researchers say.

Researchers at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands developed the World Database of Happiness, which combines life assessment averages and life expectancy averages. It is an estimate of how long and happy the average citizen will live in that nation.

The latest "happy years" ranking includes 148 countries and covers more than 95 percent of the world population.

The inhabitants of Costa Rica hold the first position of this classification, with an average of 66.7 happy years of life, followed by Iceland with 66.4 years and Denmark 65 happy years. The United States is listed at 58 years.

Zimbabwe, the country that holds the last position, had only 12.5 happy years of life, next is Burundi at 14.3 years and Tanzania at 14.4.

The findings are scheduled to be presented at the III Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development World Forum in Busan, South Korea.

The report is at: http://www.worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/hap_nat/findingreports/RankReport2009-2d.htm.

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The report also gives life expectancies of each country.
Costa Rica 78.5
Iceland 81.5
Denmark 77.9
U.S. 77.9