Lack of trust wipes smile from Greeks
Greeks are among the unhappiest people in the European Union largely because they do not trust their government, laws or each other, according to research by Cambridge University in Britain. Researchers ranked Greece’s national average happiness at 6.79 out of 10. This placed Greece 13th among the 15 EU members in 2004. Portugal was 14th with 6.53 and Italy last on 6.27. Denmark was the happiest nation with 8.31. «The notion that people are happiest along the shores of the Mediterranean does not appear to be true,» said Luisa Corrado, head of research that analyzed the responses of 20,000 people to determine the causes of happiness. «The survey shows that trust in society is very, very important,» said Corrado. «The countries that scored highest for happiness also reported the highest levels of trust in their governments, laws and each other,» she added.
