Portuguese among least satisfied in EU

“Overall, how satisfied are you with your life these days?”

This question, posed to people across the European Union, found that the Portuguese were one of the least satisfied.

Life satisfaction, the EU believes, is shaped strongly by various socio-demographic factors which lead to different living situations as well as different expectations.

Comparable data on such subjective evaluations and perceptions in different countries have been collected for the first time and are published by Eurostat.

The overall score for satisfaction with life was 7.1 out of 10. While Portugal was not so very far behind with 6.2, it was nevertheless the lowest in all of the 28 EU countries with the sole exception of Bulgaria (4.8).

Other southern countries also had low satisfaction levels. Greece and Cyprus also came in at 6.2, while Italy scored 6.7 and Spain 6.9.

In Portugal and indeed across all EU countries, the young (aged between 16 and 24) are the most satisfied and the greatest dissatisfaction registered among elderly people.

This result is not necessarily surprising, although one might have felt that the high unemployment levels hitting young people could have had a greater impact.

With an overall average of 8.0, most satisfied populations were in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Good health was the strongest determining factor for satisfaction. This was followed by a person’s financial position and being in full-time work. But it is also the case that grater satisfaction was expressed in the richer countries.

Portugal’s satisfaction

EU country total