IRISH PEOPLE are among the unhappiest of 58 nationalities, according to a poll.
The results appear to be at odds with the findings of other polls published within the past year that found the Irish to be relatively happy despite the downturn.
The findings of the WIN-Gallup International global barometer, which surveyed almost 53,000 people in 58 countries, based its findings on “net happiness”, or the percentage of people who considered themselves happy, minus the percentage who considered themselves unhappy.
It found that 45 per cent of Irish people said they were happy compared to 25 per cent who were unhappy.
This left Ireland with a net happiness rating of 20 per cent. The 30 per cent of Irish people who consider themselves “neither happy nor unhappy” were omitted from this measure.
When compared to the rest of the world, Ireland’s “net happiness” rating was half that of the international average which stands at 40 per cent – well below the western European average of 56 per cent.
In fact, the only countries with a lower net happiness score were Iraq with 19 per cent; Lithuania at 9 per cent; Serbia with 8 per cent; Palestine at 7 per cent; Egypt with 0 per cent and Romania with minus 10 per cent, meaning more Romanians consider themselves unhappy than happy.
The results of the poll will come as a surprise to some as they contradict past polls, including the annual Eurobarometer in which Ireland has, apart from the late 1980s, ranked consistently high when it comes to satisfaction. Initial findings from the latest Eurobarometer poll on public opinion in the European Union, carried out in November, found that 85 per cent of Irish people were either totally satisfied or fairly satisfied with the life they led, ranking 10th among the 27 EU member states.
Meanwhile, a poll published in April 2011 by Gallup Inc, a separate entity to WIN-Gallup International, found Ireland ranked 10th out of 124 countries for wellbeing, with 62 per cent of Irish people ranked as “thriving”.
However, Jimmy Larsen, associate director with Irish pollster RedC, which conducted the poll of 1,001 Irish people, said this latter index was not directly comparable to yesterday’s findings. “Our measure is a more simple, straightforward measure where respondents simply have to answer whether they currently are happy, unhappy or neither with their life. The wellbeing index is a scale rather than a direct choice and includes both current and future evaluation of the respondent’s life,” he said.