Lithuanians are less happy than average Europeans – survey

65 percent of Lithuanian residents consider themselves happy, compared to the EU average of 83 percent.

14 percent of people in Lithuania do not agree with the statement that they are happy, compared to 5 percent in the whole of EU.

The results show the percentage of happy people is only lower, compared to Lithuania, in Romania (59 percent), Bulgaria (62 percent) and Greece (64 percent). The happiest are the Irish (97 percent) and Danish (96 percent).

Professor Dainius Pūras, a psychiatrist of Vilnius University, says Lithuanians feel unhappy due to objective reasons and also due to their own conviction.

“I would link this with the fact that the human rights and fundamental freedoms situation in Lithuania is not that good as in other European countries. Moreover, there are many forces in Lithuania, resisting the principles of universal human rights and intimidate each other with European values. It definitely not adding to the quality of life”, he told BNS Lithuania.

“The results also reflect self-programming that it’s bad because some children in Africa are already happy if they get at least one meal a day. So it’s a matter of expectations. Lithuanians perhaps are unhappy because they want to live like the Swedes, although (…) at the same time they say the Swedes’ values are unacceptable”, Pūras said.

The survey also showed that Lithuanians consider their health to be worse that average Europeans. 59 percent of Lithuanians consider their health good, compared to the EU average of 78 percent.

Also a larger number of Lithuanians, compared to the EU average, believe income disparities are too big (92 and 84 percent respectively).

Over 28,000 people across the EU were surveyed on Dec. 2-11.