Happiness map of Hungary 2018 – Where do the happiest Hungarians live?
The Committee of the United Nations declared 20th March the International Day of Happiness which has been celebrated since 2012. Although Hungary is not among the happiest nations of the world, its level of happiness shows a constant improvement, situating it as the 69th happiest country according to this year’s report. However, it is also interesting to see where the happiest Hungarians live in the country, and it is also interesting to see what makes them more satisfied than others. Here are the details of the latest happiness map of Hungary reported by Boldogsagprogram.hu and Femina.hu!
The 1st happiness map of Hungary, showing the regions and counties where the happiest people live, was made in 2016 by the Eötvös Loránd University‘s Positive Psychology Laboratory and the Jobb Veled a Világ (The World Is Better With You) Foundation, based on online results. This year, 7,506 people participated in the research whose ages varied between 17 and 88.
The study focused on aspects like the satisfaction of Hungarians with their life, and their emotional, psychological, social, spiritual and mental well-being. Furthermore, experts also analysed the source of happiness regarding Hungarian people.
Level of happiness in each Hungarian region
Similarly to the results of the World Happiness Report 2018, tangible improvements have been witnessed in each Hungarian region compared to the results of the previous year. The most significant change has been seen in Western Transdanubia and the Southern Great Hungarian Plain, while the smallest improvement has been present in Central Hungary.
- ? = very happy
- ? = level of happiness above the average
- ? = average level of happiness
- ☹️= level of happiness below the average
- ? = unhappy
Level of happiness in each county
On this map, one can observe the counties where people are the most satisfied with their lives in more detail. Komárom-Esztergom, Vas and Békés county are the happiest places to live, while Nógrád, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Heves county have a lot to improve. Generally, it can be stated that in most parts of Hungary, people have an average happiness level which is not bad at all.
The happiest county seats
The happiest county seat is Szombathely followed by Tatabánya and Győr, while Budapest is only the 13th happiest Hungarian county seat. In addition to this, among those counties with the worst results is Kaposvár, Miskolc and Salgótarján.
What do the results indicate?
The study confirmed that Hungarian women are happier in each region and their mental well-being and psychological immunity are also greater than that of men. As can be read on Boldogsagprogram.hu, taking into consideration the findings, a happy Hungarian person is someone who:
- lives in Transdanubia
- has a diploma
- is between 36-50
- has a family with 4 or more children
- has a strong psychological immunity
- and is in the prime of his/her life.
So now we know what is necessary for the satisfaction of Hungarians.
Since 2012 when the United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness, more attention is payed to the celebration of this in education.
In Hungary, for instance, the Happiness Class Movement started in 2014 as a consequence, of which 5,000 happiness classes are held today in 350 schools. The initiative aims to increase the level of happiness of Hungarian children in the school environment, and we hope that thanks to it, a more significant improvement will appear in next year’s map.
Source: femina.hu; boldogsagprogram.hu