According to the results of three new surveys on the impact of the banking collapse in Iceland, conducted by the Public Health Institute of Iceland, Icelanders consider themselves almost as happy as they were before the crisis hit.
From the Icelandic National Day in 2007. Photo by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.
“Although some people may be pessimistic, a number of people are optimistic as well. The average rating of happiness among Icelanders in the three surveys is 7.8 on a scale of one to ten, while a common average in Iceland is eight. The European average from 2003 is 7.2. We aren’t all breaking down,” Dóra Gudrún Gudmundsdóttir, the director of the Public Health Institute, told Morgunbladid.
Immediately after the crisis hit in October 2008, the Public Health Institute conducted the first survey of the health and well-being of Icelanders, aged 18 to 80, chosen at random from the National Registry. Sixty percent responded. The survey was then repeated in January and June 2009.
The results of the three surveys will be presented today at a conference on the welfare of children in Iceland and business opportunities during times of such dramatic changes.
The conference is held in cooperation with the Ministries of Education, Health and Social Affairs, along with the Children’s Welfare Fund, Reykjavík University and the University of Iceland.
Click here to read about another recent survey, concluding that Icelanders have grown more pessimistic than other nations.
