Zims happier than South Africans (and Batswana)

The index, released last week, placed South Africa 142nd of 151 countries on experience of wellbeing (happiness), life expectancy (health) and ecological footprint. Zimbabwe, has a better outlook, being in 115th position, with Ethiopia 94th. Botswana occupies the bottom ranking.

The Happy Planet Charter has been endorsed by leading environmentalists, economists and politicians ahead of this week's United Nations' Earth Summit. Topping the happiness index is Costa Rica, with Vietnam and Colombia in third place. The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and France did not do so well either, with none of them making the top 10.