I received an email the other day from a friend of mine, Andrew, about a study revealing the happiest countries on Earth. The study was released recently by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF). The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu came out on top as the happiest country on Earth, with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama completing the top five.

The study measures people’s wellbeing and their impact on the environment, and the index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint — the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption.

I’m really not surprised to see Costa Rica amongst the top five. Though life is far from perfect here, people in general appear very happy, friendly and kind. Interestingly, of the many people I’ve met here over the last few years, not a one has ever indicated they would rather live somewhere else. And all the Costarricans I’ve met who have moved to the US or Europe to work and earn more money all have told me they want to return to Costa Rica because they love it here so much.

I hesitate to tell too many people about this. I’m not sure how “happy” we all would be if the word gets out!

Some other rankings are: Germany (81), Japan (95), Britain (108), Canada (111), Australia (154), Kuwait (159), China (32), France (129), the United States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.

Among the bottom five, I guess the “least happiest” places are: Zimbabwe on the bottom at 178, second-worst performer Swaziland, then Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ukraine.