More than 60 percent of Turkish people feel happy and nearly 73 percent look to the future with hope, according to a new study published by the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat.
Revealing the results of their 2010 research on “happiness of life,” TurkStat said 61.2 percent of Turkish people feel happy and 72.8 percent look to the future with hope.
The research was conducted with the participation of 7,027 individuals, 3,440 of who are family members. Aiming to measure individual perception of happiness and contentment in life, TurkStat asked people to describe their feelings by one of the following: pain, grief, lack of pain, satisfaction, happiness and joy. On this scale, 61.2 percent of the polltakers selected happiness or joy while 10.7 percent selected pain or grief.
Women are happier
The research overall also demonstrated that women are happier than men. While the rate of happiness among women was 62.7 percent, the rate was just 59.6 percent for men. The increase of people’s education levels also showed a parallel with their rate of happiness. Even though the ratio of happiness was 60.5 percent for primary school graduates, it increased to 67.7 for people with undergraduate degrees or higher.
Another dimension that the research revealed was that married couples were much happier than single people. Among married couples 63.7 percent said they were happy while for single people the rate was 53.5 percent. When the individuals were asked what was their source of happiness, family and health ranked first.
Asked who was the leading source of happiness in their lives, 70.9 percent said family, 13.2 said children, 7.5 said partners and 3.1 said parents. Only 1.9 said they see themselves as the source of their happiness.
Among the values seen as the source of happiness most, “health” came top with a percentage of 71.2. This was followed by 13 percent of polltakers saying “love,” 6.9 percent saying “success,” and 4.9 percent saying “money.”
Also according to the research, an increase was observed in the number of people who are hopeful about life with 72.8 percent of citizens saying they are hopeful about their future.
Consuming cheaper products
The influence of economic conditions that occurred within the last year was also measured for individuals. More than 54 percent of individuals said they started to consume relatively cheaper products. The rate was 60 percent in 2009. Among the participants, 33.8 percent said they were presently in debt, 21.7 said their income has shrunk and 24.5 said their savings have decreased. The amount of people who had to cut back on entertainment and holiday expenses declined to 22.7 percent. In the previous years, this rate was 34.3, 27.9, 27.9 and 25.9, in sequence. The amount of people who managed to cover their rent without any difficulty was 22 percent, according to the research, saying that a rise of income happened in 13.1 percent of people’s salaries.
Marriage is sultanship
HAPPY-UNHAPPY RATE
Year – 2009 / 2010 – 2009 / 2010
Average – 54.3 / 61.2 – 14.6 / 10.7
Men – 50.2 / 59.6 – 17.1 / 11.5
Women – 58.1 / 62.7 – 12.3 / 10.0
MARTIAL STATUS
Married – 57.3 / 63.7 – 12.8 / 9.2
Single – 46.8 / 53.5 – 19.2 / 15.3
Future Does Not Scare
Year – 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010
Hopeful – 66.8 / 64.4 / 70.1 / 64.9 / 65.5 / 72.8
Unhopeful – 33.2 / 35.6 / 29.9 / 35.1 / 34.5 / 27.2
Weaker points to judicial and security services
The research illustrated that citizens’ contentment with judicial and security services decreased, but at the same time their contentment with education and health services increased. The people who said they are not happy with judicial services receded four percentage points after 2009 and became 73 percent in 2010. The ratio of the citizens content with education services is 61.5 percent, said the research.
Note: In fact we are happy society comparing some other countries. We somehow find ways to be happy ,whether we are poor or rich we have some family and friendship ties that gives us happiness.
Marriage is sultanship ! thats debatable ..)
