EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Bulgarians, the EU's newest members, are also by far the bloc's unhappiest citizens, a new EU survey showed on Wednesday (19 November). Bulgarians gave their satisfaction with life a rank of five out of 10, and their happiness a rank of 5.8, which is well lower than the average rank given by Europeans of seven and 7.5, respectively. On average, Europeans rate their level of happiness a 7.5 out of 10 For their part, Romanians, who joined the EU together with Bulgarians in 2007, have a more positive outlook, putting their life satisfaction at 6.5 and their happiness at seven, according to the European Quality of Life Survey carried by Dublin-based EU research agency Eurofound. The survey - which covers all 27 EU states, as well as Norway and EU candidates Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia - also ranks Nordic people among the happiest in Europe, with Danes leading the list, followed by Swedes and Finns. Of the member states that joined the EU in 2004, only the Maltese have ranked themselves among the 10 happiest peoples in Europe, while Portuguese are the unhappiest of the 15 "old" EU countries, preceded by Italy and Greece.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Bulgarians, the EU's newest members, are also by far the bloc's unhappiest citizens, a new EU survey showed on Wednesday (19 November).
Bulgarians gave their satisfaction with life a rank of five out of 10, and their happiness a rank of 5.8, which is well lower than the average rank given by Europeans of seven and 7.5, respectively.
On average, Europeans rate their level of happiness a 7.5 out of 10
For their part, Romanians, who joined the EU together with Bulgarians in 2007, have a more positive outlook, putting their life satisfaction at 6.5 and their happiness at seven, according to the European Quality of Life Survey carried by Dublin-based EU research agency Eurofound.
The survey - which covers all 27 EU states, as well as Norway and EU candidates Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia - also ranks Nordic people among the happiest in Europe, with Danes leading the list, followed by Swedes and Finns.
Of the member states that joined the EU in 2004, only the Maltese have ranked themselves among the 10 happiest peoples in Europe, while Portuguese are the unhappiest of the 15 "old" EU countries, preceded by Italy and Greece.
"We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more -- visiting others, going to church, all those things -- were more happy," Dr. Robinson said. "TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less." But the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy. "I don't know that turning off the TV will make you more happy," Dr. Robinson said.Still, he said, the data show that people who spend the most time watching television are least happy in the long run.Since the major predictor of how much time is spent watching television is whether someone works or not, Dr. Robinson added, it's possible that rising unemployment will lead to more TV time.
"We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more -- visiting others, going to church, all those things -- were more happy," Dr. Robinson said. "TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less."
But the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy. "I don't know that turning off the TV will make you more happy," Dr. Robinson said.
Still, he said, the data show that people who spend the most time watching television are least happy in the long run.
Since the major predictor of how much time is spent watching television is whether someone works or not, Dr. Robinson added, it's possible that rising unemployment will lead to more TV time.
what's the data on internet (over)use? ;-)
