Happy Planet Index ranks PHL as 20th happiest country in the world

The Philippines moves up five places to rank 20th on the Happy Planet Index 2016 (HPI) of the happiest countries in the world.

The Philippines had an overall rating of 35, while the "happiest country in the world" Costa Rica had a score of 44.7.

Data from the 2016 list used numbers from 2012 provided by the Gallup World Poll, the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, and the Global Footprint Network.

Although low middling in three out of four factors, the Philippines score was raised by its ecological footprint score.

The average life expectancy in the Philippines is 67.9, fairing better than Southeast Asian neighbors Myanmar (65.5) and Cambodia (67.5), but ranking below Thailand (74.1), Malaysia (74.4), and Vietnam (75.5). Data for Singapore, Laos, and Brunei was unavailable.

Average well-being in the Philippines was rated at 5, falling again in the middling range. In the survey conducted by the Gallup World Poll, the numbers represent steps on the ladder, where 10 is the best possible life for the citizen and 0 indicates the worst.

These numbers were pulled up by the Philippines' positive ecological footprint of 1.1, as shown in the formula used HPI.

The United States and Japan, for example, had green scores in life expectancy and average well-being, but had red ratings for ecological footprint.

Luxembourg, which had high, green marks across the board  ranked 139 out of 140 due to a 15.8 ecological footprint score.

The overall score is can also be pulled down by the Inequality of Outcomes or the "measure of how unequal the distribution of life expectancy and experienced well-being scores are within a particular country."

The top 20 happiest countries are:

•     Costa Rica, 44.7 [Previous rank: 1]
•     Mexico, 40.7 [Previous rank: 22]
•     Colombia, 40.7 [Previous rank: 3]
•     Vanuatu, 40.6 [Previous rank: n/a]
•     Vietnam, 40.3 [Previous rank: 2]
•     Panama, 39.5 [Previous rank: 7]
•     Nicaragua, 38.7 [Previous rank: 8]
•     Bangladesh, 38.4 [Previous rank: 11]
•     Thailand, 37.3 [Previous rank: 20]
•     Ecuador, 37.0 [Previous rank: 23]
•     Jamaica, 36.9 [Previous rank: 6]
•     Norway, 36.8 [Previous rank: 29]
•     Albania, 36.8 [Previous rank: 18]
•     Uruguay, 36.1 [Previous rank: 93]
•     Spain, 36.0 [Previous rank: 62]
•     Indonesia, 35.7 [Previous rank: 14]
•     El Salvador, 35.6 [Previous rank: 5]
•     Netherlands,35.3 [Previous rank: 67]
•     Argentina, 35.2 [Previous rank: 17]
•     Philippines, 35.0 [Previous rank: 25]

The lowest scores belong to Benin (13.4), Togo (13.2), Luxembourg (13.2), and Chad (12.8). — Aya Tantiangco/BM, GMA News