Fiji world’s happiest nation, Iraqi unhappiest – poll
Fiji is the happiest country in the world, while war-torn Iraq is the least happy nation, says Gallup survey. At the same time, about 60 percent of respondents, the majority from the Middle East, say they would fight for their country if necessary.
Fiji, an island country in the South Pacific, is “this year’s happiest nation, where 93 percent said that they were either happy or very happy,” says WIN/Gallup International’s annual global End of Year survey.
Gallup interviewed some 64,000 people from 65 countries across the globe.
At least 70 percent of respondents said they were happy, up 10 percent on 2013. Only 6 percent of respondents said they were unhappy, the poll says, compared to last year’s 12 percent.
“Whilst the outlook for the world’s economy remains unpredictable our happiness refuses to wane and remains high across the globe,” Jean-Marc Leger, President of WIN/Gallup International Association, said.
The survey also shows that 53 percent of those asked about 2015 “think it will be better than 2014, up by 5 percent from last year.” The number of those “who think it will be worse has dropped by 5 percent to 15 percent.”
Nigeria turned out to be the most positive country about the upcoming year, with about 85 percent saying 2015 will be better than this year.
According to the poll, “African countries appear” to be the happiest region in 2014 with 83 people of those surveyed across the continent being content, followed by Asia (77 percent).
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However, people from Oceania, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and Western Europe turned out to be the least happy.
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“Again, this is someway short of the world’s unhappiest country which was Iraq where approximately one in three people (31 percent) said that they were either unhappy or very unhappy.”
“This year’s survey also highlights that people across the world are increasingly optimistic and believe that 2015 is set to be a good year,” Leger added.
Gallup also asked the respondents “whether they would be willing to fight for their country.”
“Globally, 60 percent said that they would be willing to take up arms for their country while 27 percent would not be willing,” the survey showed.
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Western Europe turned out to be the most peaceable region, as only one-quarter of respondents (25 percent) said they would fight. In the US, 44 percent of people said they are ready for fight for their nation.
However, people of the Arab countries of Middle East and North Africa “are the most likely to be willing to fight for their countries (77 percent) followed by those living in Asia (71 percent).”
In the meantime, when asked about the economic prosperity in 2015, 42 percent of respondents believed it will be better whilst 23 percent believe it will be one of economic difficulty.
However, 40 percent of people from Western European countries say they believe year 2015 “will be a difficult year in contrast to just 12 percent who believe it will be one of economic prosperity.”
