What is the happiest country in the world? If there is an answer to that, it has to be Vanuatu , at least that is what a study by the New Economics Foundation of Great Britain assures. One believes that it has taken a long time to recognize that Vanuatu , an independent country since 1980, has so many positive parameters in its favor. First of all, it has numerous beaches where no one goes on the same day that it occurs to you to go . You can be the provisional owner of many waves, the captain of rivers full of freshwater prawns, and the head of some palm trees under which the coconut crabs nest, always jealous of those nuts that start with their claws and eat with delight. . They don’t give you anything, but they don’t bite you either.
The Republic of Vanuatu is a country located in the South Pacific Ocean . The archipelago is located about 1,750 km east of Australia, 500 km northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji and south of the Solomon Islands. Its colonial name was New Hebrides; this name is only used for historical references.
The jungles of Vanuatu are never full of snakes or lions, but rather all the more of some flying foxes, which are appetizing grilled for those who like that delicacy. All this and more with the due permission of the native Vanuateños, but they do not care at all about the fantasies of others as long as they have, at around six in the afternoon, a date with kava , the juice of a slightly Narcotic, of legal use throughout the country, which helps them to fully enter the time of their ancestors, that is, in a time still much happier than the current one, which is not short either.
The economy is based mainly on subsistence or small-scale agriculture, which provides 65% of the population . Fishing, foreign banking financial services, merchant marine vessel registration, sale of international fishing licenses (Vanuatu is a member of several regional fishing committees) and tourism (with 50,000 visitors in 1997), banking licenses off -Shore and the formation of international companies are other sources of economy. In Puerto Vila you will find the Reserve Bank and the Property Registry. There are no mineral deposits and the country has no oil deposits. A small industrial sector supplies the local market. Taxes come mainly from product imports and VAT (VAT), since Vanuatu has no income or personal tax, being considered one of many tax havens.
Almost a thousand different languages ​​are spoken in Vanuatu , which means one of the greatest linguistic riches on this planet. On a small island like Malekula there are 35 languages (some with only a dozen speakers) and up to 80 dialects. No wonder some understand the language of dugongs and volcanoes.
