Despite complaints, political uncertainty, the rise in the cost of living, gender violence, international conflicts... Spaniards obtain a remarkable level of happiness. Specifically, they score a 7.1 on a scale of 0 to 10, their level of satisfaction with life, according to the indicator of subjective well-being of European citizens prepared by Eurostat and which gives an idea of which countries in the Union are European with the happiest citizens.
The latest report, corresponding to 2022 and published yesterday, makes it clear that economic well-being is important but it is not everything when it comes to feeling happy and satisfied. Countries with low income levels such as Romania and Poland are among those with the highest overall satisfaction with life (7.7), while Germany, which has one of the strongest economies on the continent, presents satisfaction indicators considerably gloomier (6.5), in line with the results of national surveys that show a deterioration in the German collective mood and a growing number of people overwhelmed by anxiety and apathy in that country.
According to the Eurostat indicator, the nation with the happiest citizens is Austria (7.9), followed by Poland and Romania, which share a life satisfaction index with Finland (7.7). Belgium and the Netherlands follow, with 7.6. And at the other extreme, the countries with the lowest score, appear Bulgaria (5.6), Germany (6.5) and Greece (6.7). The EU average is 7.1, the same score as in Spain, which exceeds that of France or Portugal (7), as can be seen in the graph above.
The indicator addresses various dimensions that affect people's quality of life: from their income, type of employment, housing conditions, educational level, health status, life expectancy, quantity and quality from their leisure or their social relationships to the social cohesion and security of the country, trust in institutions, pollution or equal opportunities, among others.
And from its results it is clear that satisfaction with life can be influenced by factors as diverse as age, training, family situation...
For example, in 2022, people between 16 and 29 years old expressed greater happiness than those over 65 years of age in almost all countries, with the exception of Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland, where the population of Older people rated their satisfaction with life higher than younger people. In the Spanish case, the difference between the subjective well-being of young people and the elderly is 0.7 points.
Two other determining factors on this European happiness indicator are the educational level and the presence of children in the home. In all countries, the subjective well-being of citizens increases as their education increases.
Regarding family structure, people with dependent children reported the highest levels of life satisfaction: 7.3, compared to an average of 7.1 for those who live as a couple, 7.0 for those who live with three or more adults and without dependent children, and 6.7 for those who live alone. And this extra well-being that children seem to provide is, say Eurostat experts, a differentiating factor for Europeans "since research on other continents has often shown the opposite."
Regarding the impact of income level, people with the highest income are more satisfied than those with the lowest income (7.6 on average for the highest income group and 6.5 for the lowest). , although the happiness of the latter remains stable, while that of middle- and high-income Europeans has decreased in the period 2018-2022.
On the other hand, the Eurostat indicator does not show significant differences in the level of subjective well-being between European men and women, although the average has decreased one tenth more for men (-0.3 points) than for women (-0.2 ) since 2018.
