幸福指数大调查 富有反而不快乐

British people are less satisfied with life than many in poorer countries and use too many of the earth's resources, according to a poll that ranks Britain 74th in the world below Georgia and Burma.

Rather than measure Gross Domestic Product or GDP, the Happy Planet Index or HPI measures life expectancy, happiness and the environmental impact of different nations.

The top ten countries are not the richest nations but middle income countries in Latin America, Asia or the Carribbean where there is a high level of life satisfaction and low carbon footprint.

Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country on the planet, according to the rankings developed by think tank the New Economics Foundation, followed by the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

The UK comes in at 74 out of 143 countries behind Georgia at 72. The highest ranking country in the EU was the Netherlands at 43 followed by France at 71 and Germany at 51.

The United States, was ranked at 114, Canada at 89 and Australia at 102. Zimbabwe and other poor African nations, where life expectancy and happiness is low, came bottom of the table.

Levels of life satisfaction, calculated from a worldwide poll, were not necessarily high in rich countries where violence and inequality continue to be a problem.

In the UK the low ranking was largely due to social problems and the high carbon footprint of most of the population.

If everyone in the world wanted to live as people do in the UK, it would require the resources of more than three earths.

Nick Marks, who devised the rankings, said that there are still high levels of inequality in the UK as well as community breakdown and unhealthy lifestyles.

"There are a lot of people who are unhappy particularly at the lower income end of the spectrum but it is not only financial inequality, it is the longer working week, a lack of social cohesion through a sense of belonginess to the community or the geographic area, indebtedness, low levels of volunteering and more passive lifestyles," he said.

He urged politicians to pay more attention to life satisfaction over GDP.

"The big message of these rankings is that we have to produce a system that makes people happier without costing the earth," he said.

最新调查表明，与很多贫穷国家的居民相比，英国人对生活更加不满，消耗的地球资源也过多。英国幸福指数在全球排名第74位，落后于格鲁吉亚和缅甸。

“全球幸福指数”对各国的居民平均寿命、幸福感、以及对环境的影响进行衡量，而不是国内生产总值。

排在榜单前10位的国家不是世界上最富裕的国家，而是拉丁美洲、亚洲、或者加勒比海地区的中等收入国家。在这些国家，人们对生活的满意程度非常高，而人均“碳足迹”则很低。

根据此项排名，哥斯达黎加是全球绿化率和幸福指数最高的国家，多米尼加共和国和牙买加分列其后。该调查由智囊机构新经济基金会发起。

在参与调查的143个国家中，英国排名第74位，位列排名72位的格鲁吉亚之后。荷兰排名第43，位列欧盟国家之首，其后是德国（排名第51）和法国（排名第71）。

美国、加拿大、澳大利亚分别排在第114位、89位和102位。津巴布韦和其它一些贫穷的非洲国家排名垫底。在这些国家中，人均寿命很短，人们的幸福指数也很低。

根据这项全球调查，在暴力和不平等问题仍未解决的富裕国家中，居民对生活的满意程度不一定高。

英国排名靠后主要归咎于其社会问题，以及大多数人口的人均“碳足迹”较高。

如果人们都想要像英国人那样生活，那么我们需要不止三个地球来提供资源。

该排行榜设计者尼克． 马克斯称，英国社会的不平等程度仍然较高，社会出现分裂，人们的生活方式也不健康。

他说：“有很多人感觉不幸福，特别是低收入群体，但这并不只因为贫富不均，还有工作时间更长，缺乏对社会或地区的归属感而导致欠缺社会凝聚力，欠债，志愿服务意识较低，以及生活方式更加消极等等。”

他敦促政界人士更多关注人们的幸福感，而不是国内生产总值。

他说：“这项排名透露出一条重要信息，就是我们要找到一种可以在不消耗地球资源的前提下，使人们更幸福的方式。”

Vocabulary:

carbon footprint: 碳足迹，指个人能源消耗量和污染排放量

think tank：智库，智囊机构