Costa Rica is slightly larger than Switzerland, but boasts 5% of the world’s bio diversity. A country at peace, with relative prosperity in comparison to other Central American countries, Costa Rica has earned the nick name “La Suiza Centroamericana” or the Switzerland of Central America.
It’s inhabitants, Ticos, as the Costa Ricas warmly refer to one another, are proud, and friendly, always willing to share a smile. Having a highly educated society, Costa Rica boasts a 97% literacy rate. Quite an accomplishment for what many people think of as a “third world” country, a status that Costa Rica left behind years ago.
For certain, Costa Rica is not like the United States, Canada, or Europe, and that is where the charm lies. However, it dose not lack the conviences or technology of these larger, more “developed” countries. Once you have discovered Costa Rica, decide for yourself if you have found your own piece of paradise.
THE HAPPY PLANET INDEX
The Happy Planet Index 2.0 reveals a surprising picture of the relative wealth and progress of nations.
The second global ranking of well-being and environmental impact shows that:
- Costa Rica comes top of the Happy Planet Index 2.0. Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources.
- Latin America dominates the top of the index. Nine of the ten top-scoring nations on the Index are in Latin America. The highest-ranking G20 country in terms of HPI is Brazil, in 9th place out of 143 nations.
Analysis of HPI data over time reveals that:
- OECD nations’ HPI scores plummeted between 1960 and the late 1970s. Although there have been some gains since then, HPI scores were still higher in 1961 than in 2005. Life satisfaction and life expectancy combined have increased 15 per cent over the 45-year period, but it has come at an earth-shattering cost – an increase in ecological footprint per head of 72 per cent.
Of a group of 36 major nations it was possible to track over time in detail, around two-thirds increased their HPI scores marginally between 1990 and 2005, but the three largest countries in the world China, India and the USA (all aggressively pursuing growth-based development models) have all seen their HPI scores drop in that time.
http://www.happyplanetindex.org/news/archive/news-2.html
BLUE ZONE
Report from the ‘Blue Zone’: Why Do People Live
Long in Costa Rica?
If you like a mystery, you’re going to love this.
(Dan Buettner/ BlueZones.com )
In 2005, Dr. Luis Rosero-Bixby, a Costa Rican demographer trained in the United States, presented a paper at an international conference claiming to have discovered that 60-year-old Costa Ricans have the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world. In other words, if you are middle aged and live in Costa Rica, you are more likely to reach, say, a healthy age 90 than your counterparts worldwide.
The academics at the conference did not believe Rosero-Bixby. After all, Central America is still considered “Third World,” a place of poverty, tropical disease, and, during the 1990s, terrible wars. How could the people here live longer than “First World” countries like those in Europe and the United States?
Centenarians and Census Records
In August, thanks to a grant from National Geographic and Allianz Life, I traveled with a world-renowned longevity expert, Dr. Michel Poulain, to meet Rosero-Bixby and examine his data. We interviewed 90-to-100-year-olds to verify their ages, and then doubled-checked in the archives (Costa Rica has an excellent record-keeping system that has recorded everyone born since 1888) to make sure our subjects weren’t lying or misguided about their dates of birth.
We found that not only was Rosero-Bixby’s data accurate, but in looking at it more closely we noticed something extraordinary — a Blue Zone: In northwestern Costa Rica, residents live even longer than people in the rest of the country.
This area — the Nicoya Peninsula — is about 70 miles long and 30 miles wide. Surfer beaches and upscale resorts hem the peninsula’s western edge. But inland, forest-covered hills and cow pastures blanket most of the terrain.
For the 75,000 or so people who live here, life proceeds much the way as it has for hundreds of years. Nicoyans make their living as small farmers, laborers or sabaneros — cowboys who work the area’s huge cattle ranches. Judging by the dusty villages where neighbors hang out on porches, or the rural homes where women still cook on ancient wood-burning stoves, you’d never guess that the Nicoya is the longest-life place in the Americas.
We’ve recruited a world-class team of scientists and media to unravel the mystery as to why people here are living so long.
Genetics vs. Lifestyle
Scientists generally agree that less than 25 percent of how long we live is dictated by genetics — how long our parents and grandparents lived. The other 75 percent or so is determined by our lifestyle — our habits day-in and day-out. Over the next three weeks, our team will be carefully examining the culture of Nicoya, searching for clues in their habits and behaviors that may explain how long they live.
So here’s your briefing. We’ve already uncovered several leads. For example, we know that Nicoya is the driest part of Costa Rica, that it used to be part of Nicaragua, and that more Indians intermarried with the Spanish who began settling here in 1510.
We know that the diet here is different than that of the rest of the country, and that the character of the people here is unique in the world.
Finally, we know that there is literally something in the water.
All in all, we have about 20 clues that we’re going to pursue. Each day, we’ll search for new evidence. The secret of longevity is not a magic pill or supplement, it’s an a la carte menu. Over the next couple of weeks, we will hope to identify some of the entrees…
Live Large,
Dan Buettner
NOTE: Dan Buettner is a writer, adventurer and entrepreneur who is working to identify ‘longevity Blue Zones’ — places in the world where people live longer, and in better health, than most of the population around them.
His goal: to understand what in these people’s lifestyles protects them against the diseases of old age, so that others may learn from them.
We reported on his work as he was preparing to leave with a team of scientists to go to Costa Rica, and invited him to tell us what he was finding.
Dan Buettner has written for National Geographic, and is posting more details athttp://www.bluezones.com.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/LivingLonger/story?id=2843049&page=1
AARP-Atenas, Costa Rica:Best Places to Retire Abroad
Costa Rica is where you go to live the lush life. It is lush with nature—misty rain forests, extraordinary wildlife, active volcanoes, and fabulous beaches—as well as such comforting amenities as malls, supermarkets, restaurants, museums, and social clubs. U.S. retirees have flocked here for years, drawn by its mild climate, its prosperity (relative to other Central American republics), its literacy rate, its health care, and, significantly, its stable government—with no army. Another plus: Costa Rica’s commitment to a thriving natural park system that is second to none in Latin America. This is as biodiverse a country as you’ll find anywhere.
Whereas many beach-loving expats have settled in the resort towns and villages along the Guanacaste “Gold Coast” on the Pacific, the majority opt for the Central Valley, which is home to the capital, San Jose, and 70 percent of the Costa Rican (or”Tico”) population. The outlying towns and villages of the Central Valley offer temperate, dry days and natural beauty, as well as the culture, hospitals, and shopping of nearby San Jose. (Regarding the weather, expats here like to brag that they can fine-tune their micro-climates by moving up and down the hills.)
Though not the bargain it was a decade ago, Costa Rica continues to draw moderate-income retirees to affordable Central Valley expat havens such as Grecia and Atenas (which claims “the world’s most perfect weather”). In 2007 Army vet Ron Keller, 64, moved from Washington State to Atenas, where he designed and built his own house in a gated community. “I wanted a change in my lifestyle,” he says. Keller reports living comfortably on his military pension and Social Security, and is happy with his move: “Would I make the same decision again? Without question.”
Texas retirees Skip and Donna Anderton, 63 and 58, moved to Costa Rica in 2009, and are renting a three-bedroom house in the town of Magallenes de San Ramon while building their own home. Skip says that they do nicely on $2,000 a month and praises the “excellent and economical health care.” Their one frustration? They didn’t learn Spanish (but are taking lessons now). Nevertheless, he says, “There are a lot of Ticos who speak good English, and those that don’t go out of their way to communicate in some way There is a lot of sign language and a lot of smiling. Everyone is most helpful.”
http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-07-2010/best-places-retire-costa-rica-central-valley.html
