Are You Happy?": Eurohappiness Survey Results in EU

[Astronuc]

Are you happy?

Well apparently 87% of Europeans consider themselves happy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/eu_happiness_dc

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union citizens are overwhelmingly happy with life -- and that's official.

A pan-European opinion poll conducted for the European Commission and published on Monday showed that 87 percent of EU citizens considered themselves happy, with a record 97 percent in Denmark.

Only in Bulgaria, which joined the bloc in January, did a majority of people (55 percent) say they were unhappy.

But the Eurobarometer survey on "European social reality," conducted between mid-November and mid-December, found far lower satisfaction levels with retirement and employment prospects.

And two-thirds of the 26,755 Europeans questioned think life will be more difficult for the next generation because of unemployment, the cost of living and uncertain pensions.

Citizens of Germany, Europe's biggest and most powerful economy, have the least confidence in the future of their pensions, with only 25 percent voicing confidence. Fewer than one-third of French, Poles and Hungarians trust their pensions.

On the other hand, nearly three-quarters of Danes feel their pension is safe, while two-thirds of Finns and Dutch agree.

Britain, Spain, Cyprus and Italy were in the middle with roughly half of respondents confident in their pensions.

Almost half of Europeans said they were dissatisfied with local job opportunities, and 41 percent said their work was too demanding and stressful. Stress levels were highest at about 70 percent in Lithuania, Greece and Romania and lowest at around 25 percent in the Netherlands and Finland.

The survey found low trust in national political institutions and high levels of political indifference across Europe.

While overwhelming majorities said health, family, friends, leisure and work were important to them, only 43 percent rated politics and 52 percent religion as counting in their lives.

Only local councils scored positive trust figures, while 73 percent of EU citizens distrusted political parties, 62 percent didn't trust their national government and 61 percent tended not to trust their national parliament.

On this last point, those percentages seem to similar to the trends in the US.

Estonians are the EU's chief optimists, while Hungarians are by far the biggest pessimists.

 

[humanino]

I am going to bias this thread

When I was in Paris a few weeks ago, I was the happiest man in the Universe.
Now stuck in VA, I am actually quite sad

Joke aside, I am wondering exactly when this poll was taken, because it can make a huge difference, wether people would declare themselves "happy" or "concerned by politics".

I would be interested to see the figures in details.

 

[Kurdt]

I'm happy about Europe but I'm unhappy about the rest of the world.

 

[marlon]

I am very happy to be in (WESTERN) Europe. Belgium is a very small country but life in here is great. Humanino, you should be living in Paris man. What the hell are you doing in VA, wherever that is ? :)

greets
marlon

 

[marlon]

"And two-thirds of the 26,755 Europeans questioned think life will be more difficult for the next generation because of unemployment, the cost of living and uncertain pensions."

That does not seem logical. When the baby boomers retire, lots of job opportunities will arise. I see this evolution in my own country as well. The government expects a serious increase in job opportunities for young(er) people within ten years. This trend has already started. Right now, many young people (all of my friends for example) have NO difficulty what so ever in finding a decent job. If i would quit the phd, i have already about 5 opportunities that are certain. This was seriously different in the early 80ties.

I agree on the pensions though, but that is a problem we will fix.

marlon

 

[humanino]

Humanino, you should be living in Paris man. What the hell are you doing in VA, wherever that is ?

VA is in the US of A
I'm supposed to become a physicist here.
Apart from that, I'm riding my bike on large highways and that is actually the funniest part of my days

 

[humanino]

This was seriously different in the early 80ties.

I agree that highly qualified people have absolutely no difficulty in finding jobs today in Europe, which was not the case even a few years ago. I also think it is the same in other countries.

 

[marlon]

Un soir, j'ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. - Et je l'ai trouvée amère

Humanino, I have been wondering about your signature. I know what it means but i feel like i am missing the point. Some clarification please ?

marlon