Costa Rica is consulting with Bhutan for how to remain among the happiest places on earth.
A small country of 680,000 inhabitants, the Kingdom of Bhutan is located in the Himalaya mountains on the eastern border of India, and is the only country in the world to measure the happiness of their country like most countries measure their gross domestic product.
Costa Rica, which topped a list drawn up by the United Kingdom’s New Economics Foundation for being the country with the highest life satisfaction, is looking to Bhutan for tips on how to remain in first place.
Bhutan began measuring the happiness of its people in 2008. On a census distributed nationwide, the last question on the form was, “Are you happy?” a question which 97 percent answered affirmatively.
From that point, they began measuring their country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) through a list of nine themes, including health, education, psychological wellbeing and time use.
“If you want to manage (happiness), you have to be able to measure it,” said Karma Tshiteem, secretary of the commission of GNH for Bhutan, who spoke at a forum in Costa Rica on Saturday afternoon.
He explained that the Bhutan government decided to track the happiness of its people in order to ensure the health of its nation. Seeing the world through GNH instead of GDP, he said, offers new opportunities for development as a country.
But how does one go about measuring happiness?
Bhutan has used nine variables (and 72 indicators) as a road map, studying nearly every aspect of its peoples’ lives. The index looks at how the Bhutanese spend their time, their level of involvement in cultural activities, their perception of the government and their sense of safety. The GNH commission asks such questions as, “How often do you feel frustrated?” a question which only a mere 4.6 percent answered “often.” Another query was, “How often do you feel selfish?” to which less than 2.6 percent responded “often” and the large majority responded never.
Bhutan also looks at more common indicators to measure happiness, such as household income, life expectancy, literacy rate and environment.
In one study, the commission learned that less than 10 percent spend time in meditation, an issue the commission hopes take action on by introducing meditation in schools.
Tshiteem said it’s too early to tell whether the work of the three-year-old GNH commission has had an effect on the lives of its people.
Asked what advice he has for Costa Rica, Tshiteem responded that many of the measurements and much of the priorities his country has undertaken are not foreign to Costa Rica.
Pointing to Costa Rica’s slogan “Pura Vida,” he said, “The things we are talking about, Costa Rica is doing.”
Audience members expressed interest in measuring the GNH of Costa Rica.
By Chrissie Long
Tico Times Staff | clong@ticotimes.net (Source: www.ticotimes.net)