The gross happiness index has been improving since 2010: In 2010, 56 per cent of respondents described themselves as happy, the index increasing to 70 per cent in 2018.
‘Lithuania is becoming increasingly emotionally attractive to its citizens. Such highly patriotically charged occasions as the centenary of the State significantly contribute to an improved well-being of the people and their feeling of happiness. That is a nice opportunity to have a positive view towards yourself, experience a stronger feeling of unity and solidarity,’ says Gintaras Chomentauskas, Doctor of Psychology, head of the Human Study Center.
According to Chomentauskas, residents of Lithuania now more than ever during the past decade feel proud of their own country, as many as 83.2 per cent of the respondents felt proud of their state.
The psychologist specifically mentioned that the happiness index was determined, if not greatly by the circumstances in which the person lives, but also to a large degree by the perception of to what extent one’s existing situation could change.
‘For a society it is very important to see the future in bright colours and have hope – that is a requisite precondition for a community to make people feel happy. We have more trust, more confidence in our public authorities, officers, the overall social system. Although dissatisfaction with the status of the state is a fairly frequent phenomenon, there is some breakthrough in the confidence in the self-built social structure. People increasingly often claim their belief in the ability to affect public life, i.e., they feel empowered to change something in society,’ says the scholar.
According to him, as many as 63.7 per cent indicated they feel important to society, while 26.4 per cent believe they can exercise influence upon public life. The indicators are the highest recorded since 2008.
‘The improving mode of the society shows that people in Lithuania feel more secure, are more confident about their future and specific plans to build their lives here. The feeling of public security is one of the most important factors defining both the country’s economic stability, and the well-being of its residents. The efforts to bring together the communities, create stronger interpersonal relations, and improve relations yield positive results, as the survey shows that we live in a more sustainable society,’ says Marius Jundulas, CEO of the Gjensidige Insurance Company.
Gjensidige has participated for the second year as a partner in the survey of the Lithuanian emotional climate.
Dr. Gintaras Chomentauskas, head of the Human Study Centre, concludes that people in Lithuania have grown tired of looking for faults only. A fairly new trend in society is to express one’s approval of a specific phenomenon. That is related to the views and approaches prevailing on social networks, and the trend is being disseminated in a range of different areas of life, because residents have started looking for positive aspects in their lives.
We are living in a more secure society, which requires adherence to rules. Earlier it was a fairly normal practice to deviate from rules, or break them, while now we are increasingly becoming a rule-abiding society. Chomentauskas also notes that certain positive changes have taken place in the street in relation to abiding by traffic regulations, and the streets are becoming much safer.
The survey consisted of an interview of 1,029 respondents carried out by UAB Baltijos Tyrimai.