A depressed nation – Why is every second Hungarian sad?

Ipsos’s latest research showed that Hungarians’ levels of happiness have significantly worsened since last year. Compared to 2019’s 50%, now 44% say they are unhappy and 11% that they are very unhappy, while 45% consider themselves happy or very happy.

Ipsos has made a world happiness map of 27 countries. According to their research, Hungary and Spain are the least happy countries in Europe, while the Netherlands is the happiest globally, reported szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu.

19,516 adults participated in the survey worldwide, and nearly two-thirds of them reported themselves to be happy.

The global average suggests that six out of 10 (63%) people feel happy in their day-to-day lives; however, that number is much lower in Hungary. The global average has not changed much from last year’s statistics, however, the order of the countries has noticeably rearranged. An improvement of over five percentage points was seen in six of the countries involved, while a similar decline was detected in the overall happiness levels of 12 countries.

Health, family and relationships seem to be the most critical factors influencing happiness in Hungary, as well as globally. The fulfilment of physiological needs, social relationships, a meaningful life heading in the right direction and financial security also are significant parts in the lives of the world’s population.

Globally, only 6% of people call themselves unhappy, Chile, Mexico and Peru all showed a setback in the levels of happiness and joined Hungary and Spain among the least happy countries. China is the happiest nation, according to the survey, followed by Russia.

Hungary has been below the world average for nine years now, but this year’s decline is the most significant.

The results of Hungarians do not show a significant difference from the world average, but they do believe that money makes you happy more than others. The importance of personal financial situation and wealth increased in Hungary more than average, while friends, recognition, forgiveness, access to sports and entertainment decreased in their significance to everyday happiness.

Source: szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu