Russians 1% ‘Happier’ in 2016

February 7, 2017 JRL Russia List Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 7, 2017)

Don’t believe the faces you see on the metro – more than half of Russians are happy.

According to a new Gallup International/WIN poll, 56 percent of Russians considered themselves to be happy in 2016, an increase of 1 percent on 2015.

Happy Russians find themselves in good company. Some 68 percent of respondents around the world say they are happy, meaning Russian happiness is still below average.

But not everyone is overjoyed. In Russia, 5 percent of respondents considered themselves unhappy, compared to 9 percent worldwide. Meanwhile, 33 percent of Russians identified as “neither happy, nor unhappy,” compared to 22 percent of all respondents worldwide.

Russia’s responses place the country 29th of 69 countries that took part in the survey. Russia can take heart in ranking higher than Western Europe, where only 45 percent of respondents were happy, on average.

According to the survey, women and respondents under 55 were more likely to consider themselves happy. Christians also were more likely to be happy than adherents of other faiths.