ALTHOUGH people in parts of the continent have to live with the
threat of the Ebola virus, poverty, and regional conflicts, the
people of Africa are the happiest in the world, a survey carried
out at the end of 2014 suggests.
The survey of more than 64,000 people around the world by
WIN/Gallup organisation has been asking people since 1977 if they
are happy, and if they believe that the world is getting
better.
At the end of 2014, they found that, around the world, people
were happier than in 2013: 70 per cent said that they were happy
with their life, ten per cent more than in last year's survey. The
happiest country in the world was Fiji, and the least happy, Iraq.
In Europe, the happiest country was Finland, and the unhappiest,
Greece.
When analysed by region, Africa scored highest: 83 per cent of
its people said that they felt happy, or very happy. Africans were
also the most optimistic: 75 per cent be- lieved that 2015 would be
better than 2014, and that the coming year would be one of economic
pros-perity.
In contrast, only 12 per cent of Western Europeans believed that
2015 would be a year of economic prosperity. In the UK, less than
half (49 per cent) said that they were happy, and only a third
thought that 2015 would be better than last year.
Warnings about continued debt may have affected people's
expectations for economic prosperity: only 15 per cent believed
that they would be better off in 2015. Across Western Europe, the
expectations were equally gloomy: 40 per cent of people were braced
for another difficult year.
Globally, however, the picture is different. More than half of
those asked felt optimistic about 2015.
The President of the WIN/Gallup International Association,
Jean-Marc Leger, said: "Whilst the outlook for the world's economy
remains unpredictable, our happiness refuses to wane, and remains
high across the globe. This year's survey also highlights that
people across the world are increasingly optimistic."
In 2014 - 100 years on after the beginning of the First World
War - people were also asked whether they would be prepared to
fight for their country.
Respondents in Western Europe were least willing to fight: 51
per cent in the UK, and 68 per cent in Italy, said "No". In the
Middle East and North Africa, 77 per cent of people were willing to
fight for their country.