A somber infographic, Eurobarometer 101 of 2024, has revealed that among Europeans, Romanians are the least satisfied with the lives they live.
62% of Romanians said they were fully satisfied with their lives in 2024. But 38% reported being completely dissatisfied – more than anyone else in Europe.
Even worse, 31% of Romanians expects their lives to get worse in 2025. In 2023, only 24% of the population expected this. Make no mistake, this is a money problem: 43% of Romanians consider price dynamics to be their biggest problem of all. The study shows similar fiscal concerns in Croatia (59%), Malta (58%), Bulgaria (48%), and Estonia (47%), while things are going well in Scandinavian countries.
Perhaps naturally, only 26% of Romanians aged 18-44 declare themselves dissatisfied, this rate rises in older categories: 35% dissatisfaction among those aged 45-54, 44% among those aged 55-65, and 55% among those over 65.
Almost 66% of Romanians who have a negative view of the European Union declare themselves deeply dissatisfied with their lives. Moreover, dissatisfaction with the EU’s actions regarding Ukraine also seems to be correlated, with most of those dissatisfied with the intervention generally being unsatisfied with their own lives in Romania, reports Romania Insider.
57% of those with less than eight years of schooling are dissatisfied, while only 22% of those with higher education are unhappy. Almost 50% of rural Romanians are dissatisfied, compared to 30% of Romanians in big cities.
In Bulgaria, 66% are satisfied with their lives.
Maybe surprisingly, 90% of citizens of Germany, Spain, Slovenia, and Sweden report being fully satisfied with their lives. Roughly 20% of these people expect things to get more difficult in 2025.
