Data from the EU’s Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) sheds light on how citizens across the continent rated their overall life satisfaction, on a scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied).
The EU-27 average life satisfaction score stands at 7.1, with young people (7.4) generally more satisfied than the elderly (6.9). The gender-based satisfaction level is evenly split at 7.1 for both males and females.
Austria emerged as the country with the highest overall life satisfaction, with an country mean score of 7.9, according to Eurostat. When the scope is expanded beyond the EU to include non-EU countries (with data), Switzerland surpasses Austria with a score of 8.0.
A nuanced view emerges when looking at the data by age groups. Among the younger demographic (ages 16-29), Poland and Romania stand jointly at the forefront, each registering a high of 8.1. Contrastingly, for the senior population (aged 65 and above), Denmark leads the EU with a life satisfaction score of 8.0. However, including non-EU countries, Switzerland surpasses Denmark for this age group, scoring 8.5.
Both Switzerland and Austria consistently rank at the top for life satisfaction among both male and female respondents, indicating a broader trend of well-being in these nations.
The full dataset can be explored in this interactive map uploaded to MapStack:
