People in Poland have the joint second highest level of satisfaction with their lives among all EU member states, new data from statistical agency Eurostat shows. Among the youngest age group, Poland has the highest level of satisfaction in the bloc.
Across all age groups, Austrians have the highest level of satisfaction, at 7.9 on a scale of 1-10. They are followed in joint second place by Poland, Romania and Finland, all on 7.7, with Belgium and the Netherlands tied in fifth with 7.6.
At the other end of the scale, the EU’s most dissatisfied residents are found in Bulgaria (5.6), Germany (6.5), Greece (6.7), Latvia and Croatia (both 6.8). The figure across the EU as a whole is 7.1.
The data, which were collected in 2022, are based on annual surveys that have been conducted since 2021 asking people to self-assess their level of satisfaction. In 2021, Poland’s satisfaction score stood at 7.5, placing it joint fifth in the EU.
Eurostat notes that high levels of satisfaction in “some countries associated with low levels of income in the recent past”, such as Poland and Romania, “shows the complexity of the relation between subjective well-being and economic welfare”.
In the latest 2022 data, Poland also had the highest reported level of satisfaction among the youngest respondents, those aged 16-29, where its figure of 8.1 was joint top with Romania. The oldest Poles (aged 65+) reported an average satisfaction level of 7.4, which was the ninth highest in the EU.
There was little difference in the level of satisfaction between Polish men (7.6) and women (7.7). However, Poles with tertiary education (8.0) had higher levels of satisfaction than those with upper/post-secondary (7.6) or lower secondary/primary (7.2) education.
In most other EU countries, the youngest age group expressed greater satisfaction than the oldest and in all member states higher levels of education are associated with greater satisfaction. Levels of satisfaction among men and women were equal across the bloc as a whole.
Poland’s economic and social development over the last two decades has been rapid. Last year, it overtook Spain on an index used by the European Union to assess the material wealth of households in member states.
Poland has overtaken Spain and is almost equal with Ireland in an index used by the EU to assess the material wealth of households in member states https://t.co/QkQ15B5O64
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 11, 2023
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Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
