The happiest people in the Baltics are…

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

According to the latest Estonian Social Survey, Estonians are the happiest among the Baltic nations, with 50.1 per cent feeling happy always or most of the time. In comparison, 48.1 per cent of Lithuanians and only 36.8 per cent of Latvians report similar levels of happiness.

“It appears that, in general, Europeans are happy, since 64 per cent of respondents across Europe feel happy always or most of the time”, said Anet Müürsoo, Head of Population and Social Statistics Department at Statistics Estonia. “On the other hand, the share of those who are happy rarely or never is less than a tenth. About a quarter of Europeans feel happy some of the time”, she said. 

The survey also revealed that about a third (35.5 per cent) of Estonians feel happy sometimes, with 11.3 per cent rarely feeling happy, and just 3.3 per cent never feeling happy. In Latvia, a slightly larger share, 38.4 per cent, feel happy some of the time, while in Lithuania, 32.3 per cent fall into this category.

However, Estonia still lags behind its Nordic neighbours Finland and Sweden, where 74 per cent and 69.3 per cent of the people, respectively, feel happy most of the time. In addition, just 0.8 per cent and 0.9 per cent never feel happy.

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