Gross National Happiness Index!!!

I am from the coffee region and I would like to return one day. There is a measure of success called a GDP and one called a GNH and a HPI. Chances are if you obsess over GDP you will never have a high GNH or HOI ranking. Below shows that most recent rankings of both GNH and HPI have Colombia in the top three. Let's hope as we grow and develop as a country and a culture that we grow our GDP but maintain our GNH and HPI!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index

For the 2012 ranking, 151 countries were compared, and the best scoring country for the second time in a row was Costa Rica, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, Belize and El Salvador.


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There is also a Happy Planet Index:

2012 Happy Planet Index^[5]

Rank	Country	HPI	Experienced well-being	Life expectancy	Ecological footprint
1	Costa Rica	64.0	7.3	79.3	2.5
2	Vietnam	60.4	5.8	75.2	1.4
3	Colombia	59.8	6.4	73.7	1.8
4	Belize	59.3	6.5	76.1	2.1
5	El Salvador	58.9	6.7	72.2	2.0
6	Jamaica	58.5	6.2	73.1	1.7
7	Panama	57.8	7.3	76.1	3.0
8	Nicaragua	57.1	5.7	74.0	1.6
9	Venezuela	56.9	7.5	74.4	3.0
10	Guatemala	56.9	6.3	71.2	1.8
11	Bangladesh	56.3	5.0	68.9	0.7
12	Cuba	56.2	5.4	79.1	1.9
13	Honduras	56.0	5.9	73.1	1.7
14	Indonesia	55.5	5.5	69.4	1.1
15	Israel	55.2	7.4	81.6	4.0
16	Pakistan	54.1	5.3	65.4	0.8
17	Argentina	54.1	6.4	75.9	2.7
18	Albania	54.1	5.3	76.9	1.8
19	Chile	53.9	6.6	79.1	3.2
20	Thailand	53.5	6.2	74.1	2.4
21	Mexico	52.9	6.8	77.0	3.3
22	Brazil	52.9	6.8	73.5	2.9
23	Ecuador	52.5	5.8	75.6	2.4
24	Philippines	52.4	4.9	68.7	1.0
25	Peru	52.4	5.6	74.0	2.0
26	Algeria	52.2	5.2	73.1	1.6
27	Jordan	51.7	5.7	73.4	2.1
28	New Zealand	51.6	7.2	80.7	4.3
29	Norway	51.4	7.6	81.1	4.8
30	Palestine	51.2	4.8	72.8	1.4
31	Guyana	51.2	6.0	69.9	2.1
32	India	50.9	5.0	65.4	0.9
33	Dominican Republic	50.7	4.7	73.4	1.4
34	Switzerland	50.3	7.5	82.3	5.0
35	Sri Lanka	49.4	4.2	74.9	1.2
36	Iraq	49.2	5.0	69.0	1.4
37	Laos	49.1	5.0	67.5	1.3
38	Kyrgyzstan	49.1	5.0	67.7	1.3
39	Tunisia	48.3	4.7	74.5	1.8
40	Moldova	48.0	5.6	69.3	2.1
41	United Kingdom	47.9	7.0	80.2	4.7
42	Morocco	47.9	4.4	72.2	1.3
43	Tajikistan	47.8	4.4	67.5	0.9
44	Turkey	47.6	5.5	74.0	2.6
45	Japan	47.5	6.1	83.4	4.2
46	Germany	47.2	6.7	80.4	4.6
47	Syria	47.1	4.1	75.9	1.5
48	Austria	47.1	7.3	80.9	5.3
49	Madagascar	46.8	4.6	66.7	1.2
50	France	46.5	6.8	81.5	4.9

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http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/articles/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
GNH: Concept
Gross National Happiness is a term coined by His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck in the 1970s. The concept implies that sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing. The concept of GNH has often been explained by its four pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation. Lately the four pillars have been further classified into nine domains in order to create widespread understanding of GNH and to reflect the holistic range of GNH values. The nine domains are: psychological wellbeing, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. The domains represents each of the components of wellbeing of the Bhutanese people, and the term ‘wellbeing’ here refers to fulfilling conditions of a ‘good life’ as per the values and principles laid down by the concept of Gross National Happiness.

The GNH Index: What is it?
The Gross National Happiness Index is a single number index developed from 33 indicators categorized under nine domains. The GNH Index is constructed based upon a robust multidimensional methodology known as the Alkire-Foster method (Click Here for More).
The GNH Index is decomposable by any demographic characteristic and so is designed to create policy incentives for the government, NGOs and businesses of Bhutan to increase GNH. The 33 indicators (Click Here for an Excel file with more details) under the nine domains aim to emphasize different aspects of wellbeing and different ways of meeting these underlying human needs. The 33 indicators are statistically reliable, normatively important, and easily understood by large audiences (Click Here for a detailed write-up on this). The domains are equally weighted (Click Here to view a PDF file on Weighting). Within each domain, the objective indicators are given higher weights while the subjective and self-reported indicators are assigned lower weights.

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http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/coffee-region/7838-colombian-coffee-zone-nominated-as-unesco-world-heritage-site-.html
:
"Colombia's coffee region, located in the south-west of the country, was nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Ministry of Culture announced Monday.
A statement released by the Ministry says that the coffee zone, whose UNESCO nomination will become official on February 1, hopes to join several other Colombian sites already included in the list.
According to the Ministry, "between September and October of this year, professional delegates from the subsidiary bodies of UNESCO will visit our country to appraise the zone ... It is hoped that the World Heritage Committee approves the application for inclusion in the World Heritage Site list during the meeting that will take place in 2011."
The Ministry went on to explain that inclusion on the list will "strengthen the plans being implemented [in the region] for conservation and preservation of the coffee landscape," in addition to bringing international recognition that will "contribute to the economic and social development of the region."
The "Eje Cafetero" is a region that encompasses 47 municipalities from five departments, and is responsible for the majority of the coffee produced in Colombia.
Over 80,000 people are involved in the cultivation of coffee in the region."