BULAWAYO -- Zimbabweans are still unhappiest people in the world despite the formation of a unity government that has stabilised the country's economic situation, a recent report reveals. A unity government formed in February that has for example brought down high inflation of over 231million percent to below 2 percent has failed to make Zimbabweans happy. Zimbabwe is ranked at the bottom of the table of 143 nations surveyed over the happiness of its nationals in rankings developed by the United Kingdom based think tank, the New Economics Foundation.
The UK based think tank was measured life expectancy, happiness and the environmental impact to develop the Happy Nation Index.
Low life expectancy in Zimbabwe is cited as one of the reasons bringing ?unhappiness to Zimbabweans, the report said. HIV/Aids has halved the average life expectancy of Zimbabwe’s 12.5 million ?people – with the consequence that many parents die at an age at which many ?in the developed world are just beginning their child-rearing lives.
Zimbabwean men are expected to live just 37 years, while women’s average life expectancy is now 34 years old.
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.
The UK comes in at 74 out of 143 countries behind post-Soviet Georgia at 72, the military dictatorship Burma at 39 and Sri Lanka, which has been scarred by civil war, at 22.
The highest ranking country in the European Union 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.
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