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From the New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof

The Happiest People

Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

Not totally coincidence, but not quite cause and effect either. It might be its happiness and relative prosperity that allowed Costa Rica to disband its army. Would disbanding its army bring peace and happiness to Colombia? Eventually. Maybe.

Here again, Costa Rica wins the day, for achieving contentment and longevity in an environmentally sustainable way. The Dominican Republic ranks second, the United States 114th (because of its huge ecological footprint) and Zimbabwe is last.

As long as tourism (and especially eco-tourism) is a bigger chunk of the economy than manufacturing, Costa Rica will be eco-friendly. If tourism went away, few Ticos would give a rat's tail about 'ecology.' Just watch them casually throw their trash on the streets.

What sets Costa Rica apart is its remarkable decision in 1949 to dissolve its armed forces and invest instead in education. Increased schooling created a more stable society, less prone to the conflicts that have raged elsewhere in Central America. Education also boosted the economy, enabling the country to become a major exporter of computer chips and improving English-language skills so as to attract American eco-tourists.

Spoken like a tourist who reads printouts from the ministry of education. The truth is that higher education is NOT widespread in any significant way. The offspring of the upper and upper middle classes do fine because they can afford the incidentals, but a poor family seldom has even one Ch*ld that finishes with the equivalent of a high school diploma. Cheap wages, decent educational level, decent infrastructure and political stability drew Intel and the call centers here, not the high education level alone.