Vanuatu judged the happiest place on the planet

This tiny, carefree nation of 220,000 in the South Pacific was voted the happiest place on the planet in a global survey conducted by the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth.

To identify the winner of the Happy Planet Index, researchers used three factors. Life expectancy, human well-being and the damage caused by a country’s environmental footprint.

This Melanesian nation of 83 islands and 120 different tribal languages easily qualifies for the top gong. Proud, colourful, cheerful and, above all, untouched by and indifferent to the troubles of the world around them, the ni-Vanuatu, as the islanders are known, enjoy a way of life that has barely changed for 4,000 years.

The British in their tropical white suits have come and gone, the French in their cravats have departed, and the Portuguese in their galleons have long since sailed away . . . they’ve all had a go at turning the islands into a far-flung colonial outpost, only to find that native culture is a powerful defence against Western influence.

To understand why Vanuatu as taken this number one spot, we should briefly look at the three factors on which it has been judged the happiest place in the world. First, life expectancy. Despite the islander’s poverty, many live to 90 and beyond.

On a village on the southern island of Tanna, where a remote tribe worship the Duke of Edinburgh as their god (that’s another story) and where many were in their 80s, put their long lives down to roast pork and yams.

Second, is the well-being. In Vanuatu this is a state of mind inspired by self-satisfaction, pride and a continuation of centuries-old cultures that have no room for one of the greatest ills of the Western world, greed.

Quite simply, no one bothers keeping up with the Joneses in Vanuatu. Uniquely, they just seem to accept that what you’ve got is what you’ve got, and that’s all there is to it. Finally, there’s no pollution to speak of. There’s very little vehicle traffic apart from the main street in the capital, Port Vila (which doesn’t even have a traffic light), and now they are thinking of using coconut oil as biofuel because there are a lot of coconuts in Vanuatu.

Timber companies don’t fell swathes of forest for profit, and there are no demands for enormous energy resources. Beyond Port Vila, villagers draw water from wells and bathe in rivers, where, at dusk and dawn, the air is filled with communal laughter.

Cheerfulness is in their genes. How could you fail to chuckle at the two cheerful descriptions, in pidgin, they use for a piano? The first is, one big fellow box, he has white and black teeth, you hit him, he sings out. The second, a box where white man fights black man, they hit each other in the face and the belly and he talks. Number one is an upright piano, number two a grand.

It was during World War II, when U.S. troops were stationed in the islands, writer James Michener sat on a beach, looking across at the island of Ambae, and used it as inspiration for Tales Of  The South Pacific, which became the musical South Pacific.

How apposite that Michener should have penned the words: Happy talk . . . if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true? Overwhelmed by the happiness and romance around him, Michener fell in love with the islands and their people just as so many Westerners have.

The men are strong, proud, sharp, quick to learn, and carry ancient wisdom that distances them from the West. You always feel they know something more about life than you. The women are kind, graceful and go about their daily chores, no matter how difficult, with a cheerfulness that puts to shame those of us who complain about nothing.

Vanuatu has remained untouched by the violence of the world and even by troubles in neighbouring island countries such as Bougainville, the Solomons and Timor.

They keep themselves to themselves, for who cares that a millionaire in London drives around in a Roller, or a French tycoon has a luxury yacht. If there’s a fish on the line a villager has cast out from his canoe, his day is fulfilled.