Europe’s Happiest Country in 2023 Has Been Revealed
Sure, we all know that Maria wasn’t dashing around the Alps belting ‘the hills are alive with the sound of music!’ because she was sad. But did you know that Austria, the dazzlingly beautiful setting for this legendary scene, is not just a happy place, but it’s actually the happiest in the EU? That’s right. According to Eurostat’s ‘quality of life indicators’, the country had the highest happiness score of any EU member state, achieving 7.9 out of 10. The data is based on surveys conducted within each member state, reported by TimeOut.
At the other end of the spectrum is Germany, and it’s thought the financial situation there seems to have had a detrimental impact on people’s happiness.
It scored a measly 6.5 out of 10, and the dip in mood from their score of 7.1 in 2021 could be attributed to the Ukraine War and the country’s economic stagnation, according to the Independent.
However, the publication said that factors such as education level, family and financial stability had the biggest impact on the study’s outcome, rather than just wealth. Money can’t buy you happiness, after all.
And that’s proven by the fact that areas which traditionally have a lower average income, Romania and Poland, are two places where life satisfaction is highest. They’ve both also skyrocketed in popularity as travel destinations.
Flights to one Romanian city have just been launched from Liverpool, and Poland stole the show for the best-value European Christmas market city breaks, as well as being home to this trending travel destination. Maybe people are catching on to the good vibes in these destinations?
Here is the Eurostat ranking of EU’s happiest countries in 2023:
- Austria
- Poland, Romania, Finland
- Belgium, Netherlands
- Denmark, Slovenia
- Czech Republic, Ireland, Malta, Sweden
- Estonia, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg
- Spain, Lithuania
- France, Portugal, Slovakia
- Hungary
- Croatia, Latvia
- Greece
- Germany
- Bulgaria