What is it?
The Happy Planet Index asks a question that no other measure asks: how efficiently does a country convert natural resources into human wellbeing? A country that achieves long, happy lives while consuming very little of the planet's resources scores high. A country that consumes enormous resources to produce relatively modest wellbeing scores low. It's a measure of sustainable efficiency, not just outcome.
Why was it developed?
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) created the HPI in 2006 to challenge the assumption that wealthy countries with high resource consumption are the "best" places to live. They wanted a measure that rewarded countries for achieving wellbeing sustainably — not just for being rich. The index deliberately makes ecological footprint part of the calculation, so no country can score well by consuming its way to happiness.
How does it work?
The HPI formula combines three factors:
- Wellbeing: measured by life satisfaction surveys (the Gallup World Poll "ladder of life" question, scored 0-10).
- Life expectancy: how long people live, on average, in years.
- Inequality of outcomes: how unequally wellbeing and life expectancy are distributed within the country.
- Ecological footprint: the average amount of land needed to sustain one person's consumption, measured in global hectares.
- Formula: HPI = (Wellbeing × Life expectancy × Equality) ÷ Ecological footprint.
- The result is a score typically between 0 and 100. No country has ever scored above 65.
What does GDP miss that this captures?
GDP tells you nothing about whether growth is sustainable. A country can have very high GDP while consuming resources at a rate that is destroying the planet for future generations. The HPI makes sustainability central to the measurement.
- The USA has one of the world's highest GDPs but a middling HPI score — its high consumption makes it inefficient.
- Costa Rica consistently tops the HPI: high life satisfaction, long lives, and a relatively small ecological footprint.
- GDP rewards consumption — the more you buy, the higher GDP goes. HPI penalises excessive consumption.
Real-world use
The HPI is used primarily as a research and advocacy tool rather than an official government metric:
- Costa Rica has consistently topped the HPI rankings, drawing attention to its model of high wellbeing with low ecological impact.
- The HPI has been used by NGOs and researchers to challenge the link between GDP growth and good lives.
- Several governments have cited HPI data in sustainability policy discussions.
- The index is updated every few years, with the most recent major edition covering 140 countries.
Limitations
The HPI has a specific and contested design:
- The ecological footprint measure is itself contested and has methodological limitations.
- Life satisfaction surveys can be culturally biased — people in some cultures report lower satisfaction even when conditions are similar.
- The formula means a country can score well by having a small ecological footprint even if wellbeing is modest.
- It doesn't capture freedom, rights, or governance quality.
The HPI is the only major measure that explicitly rewards sustainable wellbeing. Its consistent finding that Costa Rica — not the USA, not Norway — is the most successful country in the world is a provocation worth taking seriously.
Related GDP alternatives
What if we started with GDP, added the good things it ignores, and subtracted the bad things it counts as positive?
The radical idea that government's ultimate purpose is the happiness and wellbeing of its citizens — not the growth of its economy.
A safe and just space for humanity: above the social foundation, below the ecological ceiling.