AUSTRALIANS: THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH

It is now proven through research that Australians are the happiest people in the world. This is according to a new survey from the researchers of University of Bentley in New Zealand. Researchers asked more than 45,000 people in 50 different countries about their levels of happiness and satisfaction of life. 49% of Australians said they were “very happy”. Right behind them was the USA (42 %), Egypt (39 %), India (38 %) and the UK and Canada (35 %). Hungary finished top of the “devastatingly unhappy” list. 40 % of its citizens said they were “very unhappy”. The second most miserable were Russians, at 38 %.

Unlike many people prefer to believe, the research showed that money and age had a big influence on how happy people feel. The study did not clearly show that money can buy happiness, but it discovered a link between being poor and being unhappy. Unhappier people were in relatively lower income groups or they were unemployed. The study also suggested the older we become, the more pessimistic, thus the unhappier we get. Globally, teenagers are the happiest people. The least happy age group is 50-59, only 15 % of those in their fifties said they were very happy. The things that make us happy include good health, financial security and a happy marriage, not cars and clothes.