Laurence Dollimore
THE happiest countries in the EU have been revealed in a huge EU-wide poll.
A survey by the European Commission asked people to agree or disagree with the statement: ‘You are happy living in the EU’.
And people in the UK are less happy than they were five years ago.
While some 69% of UK respondents said they were happy living in the EU, that was a 3% drop from 2012, when the same question was asked.
The UK is one of only five EU members to be less happy than they were five years ago, joining Poland, Malta, Italy and Slovakia.
Latest @EurobarometerEU shows that in 20 EU Member States, respondents are now more likely to agree they are happy living in the EU than they were 5ys ago. Let's take this opportunity to change and reform Europe together #WeAreEurope ?? pic.twitter.com/rqIvFSRcO2
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) November 21, 2017
In contrast, 20 member states say they are happier there than they were five years ago.
In Spain, 85% of people are happy, and 83% in Portugal.
In Ireland, happiness levels are at 94%, a 15% increase over five years, making it the second happiest EU nation after Luxembourg (97%).
Hungary takes the crown of being the unhappiest, with only 57% of people saying they are content – with the Czech Republic (58%) and Romania and Greece (both 62%) close behind.
The European Commission interviewed 1,000 people in each EU member state for the survey.
Nine out of ten people are happy living in the country they are in and, overall, 78% are happy living in the EU.
