Almost half of Romanian satisfied with their lives, study shows

Around 46 percent of Romanians are happy with their life, while only 4 percent believe that the economy is going well, shows the latest Eurobarometer national report. The satisfaction level is roughly similar to that in autumn 2009 (47 percent), but higher than in spring 2010, when this indicator decreased by over 10 percentage points, reaching 36 percent. Romanians' level of satisfaction with their own lives varies with the degree of urbanization. Thus, 54 percent of the Romanians living in the big cities are satisfied with their life, while the percentage in rural areas is of 39 percent. Despite the negative assessment of the current situation of the economy, optimism on the evolution of Romanian’s life went up in 2010, shows the study. Therefore, the number of people who believe that life will be better next year increased from 16 to 22 percent, between spring and autumn 2010. Data for Romania was collected between November 11 to December 1, 2010 based on a national sample of 1001 people aged at least 15 years. The margin of error of the survey is + / - 3 percent. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com