Statistics: Estonians are the happiest people in the Baltics

According to the results of the most recent Estonian Social Survey, Estonian people are, on average, happier than both Latvians and Lithuanians. However, they are not nearly as happy as people who live in Finland or Sweden.
"The Estonian Social Survey asked respondents to assess how often they had felt happy during the previous four weeks. It appears that, in general, Europeans are happy, since 64 percent of the respondents across Europe feel happy always, or most of the time," explained Anet Müürsoo, head of the population and social statistics department at Statistics Estonia.
On the other hand, the share of those who are rarely or never happy is less than one in ten (8.6 percent). "About a quarter of Europeans (25.8 percent) feel happy some of the time," she said.
The European countries with the happiest people
In Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the Netherlands, more than three quarters of the population feel happy all or most of the time. "Among the Baltic countries, Estonia has the happiest people – half of the Estonian population (50.1 percent) are either always happy, or happy most of the time, according to the survey. Around a third (35.3 percent) reported feeling happy sometimes, while just over a tenth (11.3 percent) are rarely happy, and 3.3 percent are never happy," said Müürsoo.

Müürsoo also noted that, in Lithuania, 48.1 percent of people surveyed said they were always happy or happy most of the time. 32.3 percent reported being happy sometimes, while 9.2 percent are rarely happy, and 2.5 percent are never happy.
In Latvia, around 36.8 percent of respondents said they were happy all or most of the time. Slightly more than (38.4 percent) reported feeling happy some of the time, while 16.6 percent said they rarely feel happy, and 6.4 percent are never happy.
Finland and Sweden are far ahead
"However, when compared with our Nordic neighbors Finland and Sweden, the people in Estonia are not as happy," said Müürsoo. "As many as 74 percent of Finnish people and 69.3 percent of the Swedish population are always happy or happy most of the time."
In Sweden, 19.4 percent of respondents feel happy sometimes, while in Finland, it was 23.8 percent.
Only 5.4 percent in Sweden and 6.1 percent in Finland said they only rarely feel happy, while 0.8 of Swedes and 0.9 of Finns said they never feel happy.
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Editor: Michael Cole