Happiness and social contacts of Slovaks compared to Europe
Data from the 11th round of the European Social Survey (ESS ERIC) also make available data on subjective well-being, happiness and the maintenance of social relationships in contemporary Europe. This international survey, carried out since 2001, provides data on the attitudes and values of the inhabitants of many European countries, including Slovakia. The results of the latest round reveal how happy Slovak men and women feel and how often they meet their close ones compared to Europeans from other countries.
"For the analysis, we selected two themes from the ESS ERIC data that are somewhat related: subjective perceived happiness and frequency of meeting friends, relatives or colleagues. The data show that Slovakia (or respondents in Slovakia) shows the lowest level/measure of happiness compared to the other countries surveyed. However, it should be added that the average happiness score in Slovakia was 6.57 on a scale from 0 (extremely unhappy) to 10 (extremely happy), so Slovak men and women were on average still more inclined to feel happy than unhappy. When it comes to meeting close ones, Slovak men and women ranked in the middle of the ranking with an average score of 4.61, which is closest to the verbal answer "I meet my close ones once a week,". Although the degree of happiness may to some extent be related to the frequency of social interactions, feelings of happiness are also caused by many other factors," says Alexander Loziak, a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i.
The degree of feeling happy was measured by the question: "Taking all things together, how happy would you say you are?" on a response scale ranging from 0 (extremely unhappy) to 10 (extremely happy). The table 1 shows the average values from lowest to highest in each country.
Key findings in brief:
- The highest levels of happiness were recorded in Switzerland (8.15), Finland (8.07) and Norway (7.95)
- Slovakia has an average level of happiness (6.57), which puts it at the tail end of the countries in the analysis
- Slovak respondents report lower levels of happiness than Hungary (7.10) and Croatia (7.55), which also have relatively lower levels of happiness
- None of the European countries fell below (6.5), with European respondents generally responding rather positively
- The difference between the highest and lowest measured value is 1.58 points on the response scale, so there were no major differences between countries
Frequency of meeting with loved ones was measured by the question: "How often do you meet socially with friends, relatives or work colleagues?", on a response scale from 1 (Never) to 7 (Every day). The country averages are shown in the table 2.
Key findings in brief:
- The highest frequency of meeting with close ones was found in Norway (5.63), the Netherlands (5.40) and Croatia (5.27), where people meet several times a week on a regular basis.
- Slovakia has an average frequency of meeting (4.61), which puts it in the middle of the ranking and closest to the answer Once a week. Slovaks meet their relatives less frequently than in Germany (4.85), for example, but more often than in Hungary (3.46) or Ireland (4.19).
Data are freely available here.
References
Source: Alexander Loziak, Institute of Social Sciences, CSPS SAS, v. v. i.