The purpose of these rankings is to determine which countries are enjoying the long and happy lives which so many of us are striving for.
Unlike other similar studies, these rankings are not based on any economic or environmental data. The only sets of data used in the calculations are a country's ranking in terms of life expectancy and the life satisfaction rankings, which are based on international surveys. The results of which are available from The New Economics Foundation. These two sets of data are given equal weighting in calculation of the rankings.
In light of data regarding suicide rates from the World Health Organisation there are some notable surprises in the top 10. It is somewhat surprising that Switzerland top the rankings despite having a suicide rate which is almost double the worldwide average. Other high-ranking countries with even higher suicide rates include Luxembourg and Finland.
Ideally, suicide rates would have been a factor in calculation of the rankings. However, there are a significant number of countries for which this data is unavailable.
Although Japan and Hong Kong have the two highest life expectancies in the world their low rankings are a reflection of how poorly they fared in the life satisfaction surveys.
Bottom of the pile was Zimbabwe due to their unfortunate combination a life expectancy of just 36.9 and the joint second lowest life satisfaction rating in the world.