Vanuatu , happiest place on Earth

A study has found Australians are far from the happiest people in the world, with the country ranked 139th on a worldwide index.

Citizens of the tiny south Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu have been ranked as the happiest in the Happy Planet Index, which has been compiled by the British think-tank, New Economics Foundation (NEF).

The study measured life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint, which is the amount of land required to sustain the population and absorb its energy consumption.

Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five.

Zimbabwe came bottom of the 178 countries ranked, below second-worst performer Swaziland, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine.

The Group of Eight industrial powers meet in Russia this weekend but do not have much to smile about, according to the index.

Italy came out best in 66th place, ahead of Germany (81), Japan (95), Britain (108), Canada (111), France (129), the United States (150) and Russia, in 172nd place.

NEF policy director Andrew Simms says the index "addresses the relative success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life, while respecting the environmental resource limits on which all our lives depend".

The head of NEF's centre for well-being, Nic Marks, adds: "It is clear that no single nation listed in the Happy Planet Index has got everything right".

"But the index does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve long and happy lives for all, whilst living within our environmental means," he said, according to British daily The Guardian.

Aside from Australia, island nations performed particularly well in the ranking.

Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper, asked The Guardian, "Don't tell too many people, please".

"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little," he said.

"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people.

"It's a place where you don't worry too much.

"The only things we fear are cyclones or earthquakes."

See the full list here