If you take into account pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions, a record unemployment rate, rising suicides, 20 percent of the population in poverty, and most of the country’s young people wanting to flee, Greeks are relatively happy.
That’s according to the World Happiness Report, which ranks crisis-ridden Greece 70th among 156 countries surveyed – behind the likes of Colombia but ahead of Japan and sub-Saharan African countries.
Greece’s neighbors Cyprus and Albania have happier people than Greece ranking in the 34th and 62nd spots respectively, though Turks are more unhappy than Greeks at 77th place.
The report was prepared by Columbia University’s Earth Institute which showed Greeks adapting relatively well to having their lifestyles turned inside out and disposable income cut nearly in half.
Greeks also came second behind Egyptians in the dramatic decline of their happiness index from pre-crisis levels, according to the report, which compared the period of 2005-2007 with that of 2010-2012. Crisis-hit European peers in Spain came sixth in deteriorating happiness, the Italians came eighth and the Portuguese ranked in 12th place.
Ranking happiness on a scale of 0-10, the survey of 156 nations measured factors such as wealth, political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption. Greece is Europe’s most corrupt country, which cost it valuable points. On an individual level, good mental and physical health, someone to rely on, job security and stable families are also crucial factors that are taken into account for measuring well-being and happiness.
The world happiness average, according to the UN report, is 5.1 points, with Greece scoring a slightly higher 5.4 points. The happiest people are in the Scandinavian countries, led by Denmark at number one, followed by Norway, Finland and the Netherlands where the average rating was 7.6 percent.
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