Germans are almost the unhappiest citizens in the EU: on a scale of 0 to 10, Germans rated their general life satisfaction at 6,5. Only Bulgaria is higher, at the bottom of the table. The happiest are the Swiss and Austrians.
Despite the pandemic, crises and wars, the majority of Europeans are still very satisfied, according to the results of the latest survey conducted in the European Union, which has now been published by the European statistical office Eurostat. This institution collects data from all areas of life that are relevant for European politics, and also regularly conducts surveys in EU members, and sometimes in other European countries.
On average, Europeans are satisfied with life
The evaluation published now is based on a 2022 survey in which people across Europe were asked to rate their satisfaction with their living situation on a scale of 0 to 10.
EU residents rated their life satisfaction on average with 7,1 points. In 18 of the 27 EU countries, life satisfaction was rated as the same as or above the EU average.
In all countries except Bulgaria, which received the worst score, the average life satisfaction scores were above 6, meaning that the majority of people in the EU declared themselves satisfied rather than dissatisfied. Satisfaction levels converged slightly across the different waves of this survey - possibly a sign that the EU is growing as a whole.
Germans increasingly unhappy
In addition to Bulgaria (5,6), Germany (6,5) and Greece (6,7) are in the last three places. However - satisfaction with life during the past decade in Greece increased by 0,5 points. In Bulgaria, the satisfaction rating in 2013 was only 4,8 - so there were more fundamentally dissatisfied than satisfied. Since then, this value has improved by as much as 0,8 points.
On the other hand, Germany has significantly deteriorated. Among Germans, life satisfaction fell by 0,8 points - which is the biggest drop among all EU countries.
And at the very top of the happiest is Switzerland with an average score of 8,0 - a country that is not a member of the EU, but often appears in Eurostat studies.
Austria received the highest score among the EU countries (7,9). Finland, Poland and Romania follow (7,7 each), Belgium and the Netherlands (both 7,6). Cypriots saw the biggest increase in satisfaction in the EU with an increase of 1,0 points to 7,2.
The more educated are the happier
Eurostat also considered specific factors that can make life more pleasant or make it worse.
For example, information on material conditions of life such as income or housing, health, education and security were separately requested. But the quality of free time, activities with other people and social cohesion also played a role in the Eurostat study. These data, however, have not yet been fully published.
It is striking that in all EU countries people with a higher level of education are happier than those with a lower level of education. This difference is the largest in Slovakia (1,6 points between people without school and those with university), Romania and Bulgaria (1,5 points each).
In addition, in most countries younger people (15-29 years old) are happier than older people aged 65 and over: only in Scandinavia, Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg is the reverse.
Bonus video:
