Azerbaijan seventh happiest of globe - poll

Source: AzerNews

Azerbaijan ranked seventh among the happiest countries in the world in a global survey conducted by Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) and Gallup International Association (GIA).

During the annual "Global Barometer of Hope and Despair" survey, respondents were asked about their personal perceptions of happiness. Based on the replies, social scientists deduced the global happiness index: from the number of those who called themselves happy they subtracted the proportion of those who consider themselves to be miserable.

The study involved nearly 60,000 people from 54 countries around the world.

Latin American states, Finland and Switzerland, as well as Azerbaijan, entered the top ten. Russia ranked 33rd, while Germany 37th, France 36th and the United States 34th.

The survey showed that 53 percent of the world's population consider themselves happy and 13 percent of people on the planet feel miserable.

32 percent of those polled could not decide whether or not they are happy -- on the one hand, they do not feel particularly happy in their personal life, but they could not call themselves unhappy either.

The number of unhappy people is greater than the number of those happy in Lebanon (-49 percent), Palestine (-11 percent) and Romania (-10 percent).

Romania showed a similar result last year. But Palestine and Lebanon saw their index sharply worsening, which is understandable because of the military operations that began in the region.

The researchers point out that it is difficult to determine exactly what makes people happy, however, the worldwide survey led to some interesting conclusions.

According to the survey, it is not money that brings happiness, but relatively high socio-economic status. It suggests that there are twice more happy people among those who are at the top of the socio-economic ladder in their community than among those who are in the lower rungs and it is regardless of whether a given country is rich or poor and of the respondent's income.

Thus, the overall world index of happiness is at 40 percent this year -- unchanged from last year.