(DUBLIN) - Nordic people are the happiest Europeans, while their least-happy counterparts can be found in the Balkans, a European Union lifestyle survey released Wednesday suggests.

Danes' ranking of their own happiness came out tops, followed by Swedes, Finns and Norwegians. Bulgarians came bottom of the table, with Macedonians just ahead of them.

The European Quality of Life Survey, carried out by the Dublin-based EU research agency Eurofound, reveals that Europeans were generally satisfied with their quality of life -- though levels varied considerably across countries.

Eurofound conducted more than 35,000 interviews in the 27 EU member states, candidate countries Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey, plus Norway from September 2007 to February 2008 -- well before the current economic downturn.

On average, Europeans rated their life satisfaction at seven out of 10 -- and their happiness at 7.5 out of 10.

Danes put their happiness at 8.3 out of 10 and their life satisfaction at 8.5, while for Bulgarians the averages were 5.8 and five respectively.

The survey found wide variations between both levels of life satisfaction and happiness, especially among the 12 newest and largely ex-communist EU member states.

"The differences in terms of life satisfaction and attitudes towards the future underline the significant inequalities in living conditions and in the experience of daily life for Europeans," said Eurofound director Jorma Karppinen.

"In particular, well-being in the former socialist countries varies greatly between social and demographic groups. There are marked disadvantages associated with low income, and older people are more likely to report dissatisfaction with their situation."

The Nordic countries came out top for optimism, with more than three quarters of respondents optimistic about the future. But less than half were optimistic in France, Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary -- which had the most pessimistic Europeans.

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

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