Americans Remain More Optimistic and Satisfied with Life than Europeans

With a few exceptions, Americans are generally happier with their lives and more optimistic about their future than are Europeans, according to a new Harris Poll. In this survey, Americans were asked some of the same questions that were asked in a recent Eurobarometer survey conducted for the European Union.

The big picture is that Americans are much more satisfied with their lives, much more likely to believe that their lives have improved and much more likely to expect their personal situations will improve than most Europeans.

Fully 58 percent of Americans are very satisfied with their lives compared to the 15-country European average of 31 percent. Fifty-six percent of Americans think that their lives have improved in the last five years compared to 45 percent of Europeans. Furthermore, 65 percent of Americans expect their personal situation will improve in the next five years compared to only 44 percent of Europeans. However, Europe is not at all homogenous and the mood varies widely from country to country.

For the most part, the results from both the U.S. and European surveys show attitudes have improved since Harris Interactive^® conducted a similar exercise two years ago.

This Harris Poll was conducted by telephone by Harris Interactive among a nationwide cross section of 1,000 U.S. adults between June 17 and 21, 2005. The European Commission conducted the Eurobarometer 62 survey in the fall of 2004 with 1,000 or more adults in 25 countries that are part of the European Union, except in Belgium where 974 adults were surveyed and in Luxembourg where 502 adults were surveyed.

The proportions of Europeans who are very satisfied with their lives vary from 64 percent in Denmark (the only country that is higher than the 58% in the United States), 51 percent in Luxemburg, 44 percent in the Netherlands and 44 percent in Sweden to only three percent in Portugal, 14 percent in Greece and 16 percent in Italy.

The overall average for 15 European countries has increased from 26 percent of Europeans who said they were very satisfied with their lives in 2002 to the current 31 percent. This compares with the U.S. figures of 57percent of Americans who said they were very satisfied with their lives in 2003 and 58 percent who say this now. The European countries that have seen the largest increases in level of satisfaction in the past two years are Belgium (up 16 points), Spain (up 14 points), Luxembourg (up 12 points), and Finland (up 11 points). Those countries seeing decreases in satisfaction levels include Austria (down 4 points) and Portugal (down 3 points).

The largest proportions of Europeans who feel that their lives have improved in the last five years are in Ireland (63%), Sweden (60%), and the United Kingdom (57%), compared to 56 percent of Americans. Other countries with large proportions who feel that their lives have become better include Denmark (56%), Finland (55%), Luxembourg (46%) and Spain (46%).

At the other end of the spectrum, only 26 percent of adults in Germany, 28 percent in Portugal, and 31 percent in Austria think their lives have improved in the last five years.

The overall average for 15 European countries has increased from 39 percent who said that their lives have improved in the past five years in 2002 to the current 45 percent. This compares with the U.S. figures of 49 percent who said their lives improved in last five years in 2003 and 56 percent who say this now. Countries that have seen the largest increases on this measure in the past two years are Belgium (up 17 points), Finland (up 14 points), United Kingdom (up 11 points), and Sweden (up 10 points). Those countries seeing decreases include Italy (down 7 points) and Portugal (down 7 points).

Concerning the future, the most optimistic countries in Europe are Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom though none of these are as optimistic as adults in the United States. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of adults in the United States say they expect their lives will improve in the next five years, compared to 58 percent in Ireland, 56 percent in Spain, 55 percent in the U.K. and 51 percent in Sweden.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 23 percent of Germans, 35 percent of Austrians, 36 percent of Belgians, and 37 percent of the Dutch expect their personal situations will improve.

The overall average for 15 European countries has increased from 41 percent who said that their lives will improve in the next five years in 2002 to the current 44 percent. This compares with the U.S. figures of 63 percent who said their lives will improve in next five years in 2003 and 65 percent now. Countries that have seen the largest increases on this measure in the past two years are the United Kingdom (up 8 points), Austria (up 8 points), Ireland (up 7 points), and Finland (up 7 points). Those countries seeing decreases include Italy (down 12 points) and the Netherlands (down 3 points).

Within Europe, there is a clear pattern with some countries, mostly in Northern Europe, giving generally upbeat and positive responses, while other countries, particularly Germany and the Mediterranean countries, indicating they are much less happy or optimistic.

Ireland, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland score better than the 15-country European average on all questions. Germany and Austria do poorly on all three questions and especially on those questions related to the last and next five years.

Greece and Portugal have very low life satisfaction scores and are below average on thinking that their present situation has improved over the last five years but are close to the European average on optimism for the next five years. Spaniards are near the bottom on life satisfaction but are also the most optimistic people.

The other pattern, of course, is the big differences between Americans and Europeans. For the most part the findings from the United States are much higher than the average of the 15 European countries. However, compared to two years ago, there are a few European countries (Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and United Kingdom) that are coming closer to the levels of American optimism.

"On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied with the life you lead? Would you say you are very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied?"

Base: All Adults

Base: All Adults

"If you compare your present situation with five years ago, would you say it has improved, stayed about the same or got worse?"

Base: All Adults

Base: All Adults

"In the course of the next five years, do you expect your personal situation to improve, to stay about the same or to get worse?"

Base: All Adults

Base: All Adults

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between June 17 and 21, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 1,000 adults aged 18 and over. Figures for sex, race, education, and region were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

The most recent European data (2004/2005) comes from the Eurobarometer 62 survey conducted by the European Commission in person (face-to-face) in the fall of 2004 among 1,000 or more adults aged 15 and over in 25 European Union-member countries, except Belgium where 974 adults were surveyed and Luxembourg where 502 adults were surveyed. The 2002/2003 European data come from the Eurobarometer 57 survey conducted in person (face-to-face) in the spring of 2002 among 1,000 or more adults aged 15 and over in 25 European Union-member countries, except in Luxembourg where 600 adults were surveyed.

(Note: Since the data from the Eurobarometer 62 and 57 are from fall 2004 and spring 2002 respectively, this should be considered when making comparisons to these new U.S. Harris Poll results).

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