Icelanders are very content with their lives compared to many other nations, as indicated in an international survey carried out by Capacent Gallup. Just over half of the world’s nations are satisfied with their lives while three out of every four Icelanders are happy.
Archive photo by Geir Ólafsson.
The survey concluded that 73 percent of respondents in Iceland are happy and seven percent unhappy, 19 percent are neither happy nor unhappy and one percent would not answer the question, ruv.is reports.
Worldwide, 53 percent of respondents on average stated that they were content with their lives, 13 percent were discontent, 31 percent were undecided and three percent would not reveal their level of happiness.
Satisfaction ranked the lowest in the Arab states where one fifth of inhabitants said they were happy with their lives and in Eastern Europe where one fourth of the populations were happy. However, in Africa and Latin America two thirds of people were content.
Even though the GDP of North America is higher than in nearly every country in Western Europe, and the inhabitants there are more optimistic about the economic outlook for 2012 than in Western Europe, they are generally less satisfied with their lives.
In North America approximately 33 percent of respondents said they were content with their lives, whereas 50 percent of inhabitants in Western Europe said they were content.
ESA
