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Iceland shows that happiness does not have to come at a great cost
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Iceland is the leader in a league table judging the European country best able to give citizens a long and happy life. Estonia comes bottom of the 30-nation survey while the UKlurksbelow Romania, at number 21 in the chart.
The European Happy Planet Index used carbon efficiency, life satisfaction and life expectancy to rate the countries. The survey, published by the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth, reveals that Europe is now worse at creating well-being than it was 40 years ago.
"Countries like Iceland clearly show that happiness doesn't have to cost the earth," said Nic Marks, founder of the foundation's Centre for Well-being. "Iceland's combination of strong social policies and extensive use ofrenewable energydemonstrates that living within our environmental means doesn't mean sacrificing human well-being."
The Scandinavian countries do best in the survey. Sweden is second, Norway third and Denmark sixth. Immediately above Estonia, at the bottom of the table, are Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Greece.
Andrew Simms, the foundation's head of climate change, said countries with a strong market-led economic model fared least well. "What is the point if we burn vast quantities of fossil fuels to make, buy and consume ever more stuff, without noticeably benefiting our well-being?"
Iceland has rich sustainable energy source, via the volcanic geology, and its government commits more resources to health than any other country in Europe.
Luxembourg is the worst country for itscarbon footprintand the UK comes fourth from the bottom on that rating. Europe as a whole has almost three times its "fair" global share of carbon emissions.
Estonia comes bottom, by having the second highest fear of crime in Europe and a heavy carbon footprint. Switzerland, fourth overall, has the highest average life expectancy, at 80.5 years, while the UK achieves 78.4 and Latvia ranks lowest with 70.7.
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(Reuters)
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在一項共有30個國家參與的調查中，冰島被評為歐洲最長壽、最快樂的國家，愛沙尼亞墊底，英國位居羅馬尼亞之后，排名第21。
此項“歐洲快樂星球指數”主要是綜合碳效率、人民的生活滿意度及預期壽命三個指標對這些國家進行評分。該項由新經濟基金會和“地球之友”公布的調查顯示，如今的歐洲在謀求幸福方面已不如40年前。
新經濟基金會“幸福中心”的創建者尼克·馬克斯說：“我們從冰島這樣的國家可以清楚的看到，快樂并不需要以犧牲地球環境為代價。冰島有力的社會政策和可再生能源的廣泛使用表明，環保并不意味著要犧牲人類的幸福。”
北歐國家在這份調查中“表現”最好。瑞典名列第二、挪威第三、丹麥排名第六。排在最后幾位的除愛沙尼亞外，還包括盧森堡、保加利亞和希臘。
新經濟基金會負責氣候變化的安德魯·希姆斯說，市場經濟模式發達的國家表現最差。“如果我們消耗大量的礦物燃料來制造、購買以及消費更多的東西，卻并沒有顯著增加幸福感，這又有什么意義呢？”
冰島的火山地質特征使其擁有豐富的可再生能源，冰島政府在健康方面投入的資源比歐洲其它國家都要多。
盧森堡的碳排放量（“碳足跡”）最多，英國在這一指標上排名倒數第四。歐洲的整體碳排放量是其全球碳排放量指標的近三倍。
愛沙尼亞因人們對犯罪的恐懼程度名列歐洲第二以及很高的碳排放量排在最后。位居第四的瑞士人均壽命最長，達到80.5歲；英國為78.4歲；拉脫維亞最短，為70.7歲。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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