Survey shows high national happiness
Most people in France are quite satisfied with life, shows a government study, though having money helps
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MONEY is not everything when it comes to happiness, but it helps.
That was one of the findings of a survey by national statistics body Insee, inspired by the recommendation of economist Prof Joseph Stiglitz to President Sarkozy that France should measure wellbeing not just economic growth.
The survey found the French are fairly happy, with an average self-attributed grade for overall satisfaction of 7.3 out of 10. This rose to 7.8 for the wealthiest 10% and dropped to 6 for the poorest 10%.
Insee found that money does make you happier up to a certain level, but after that increasing riches play less of a role and other factors are more important, like health, marital status or working conditions.
The survey also found that the better-educated people were the happier they were likely to be. This is partly because it tends to affect income; however even between two employees doing the same job the one with higher qualifications tends to be happier.
The arrival of a new baby tends to make people less happy, the survey found. This is probably because while a birth “brings a lot of joy it is also involves a lot of upheaval,” an Insee spokesman said.
