Belgium is the EU country with the happiest people, according to new data based on a survey released by Eurostat.
The results are based on a survey from 2018, in which people over 16 were asked to rank the frequency of when they were happy in the four weeks prior to the survey as 'all of the time', ‘most of the time’, ‘some of the time’, ‘a little of the time’ or ‘none of the time’.
Eurostat ranked the countries by adding the percentage of citizens who indicated they were happy 'all of the time' to the percentage of those who were happy 'most of the time' in the four weeks before the survey. Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland come out on top, as 76% of respondents claim to be happy in all four countries.
However, Belgium is ranked first of those four with the most people who felt happy 'all of the time' (17.1%), compared to 15.3% in the Netherlands, 14.4% in Austria and 12.3% in Finland.
Which EU Member State has the happiest people?❓ ???
➡️ For more information: https://t.co/dQw1CClm9b pic.twitter.com/fEo2fkZijc — EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) November 7, 2019
Latvia is last on the list with only 31% of its citizens reporting they were happy all or most of the time, and 28% reporting being happy rarely or never. Bulgaria with 35%, and Croatia with 42% finish second and third to last in the EU.
Of all the respondents in the EU, 14% reported they were happy all of the time, and 48% indicated being happy most of the time, over the four weeks prior to the survey. 8% said they were rarely happy, and 2% marked down that they never were.
Data for 2018 for Ireland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom was not available, according to Eurostat.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
