 has presented an optimistic picture of people's satisfaction with their lives, showing that 52.7 percent say they’re happy.){kind=link}
Although Turkey has been suffering from a deteriorating economy over the past several years, with high inflation and unemployment, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has presented an optimistic picture of people’s satisfaction with their lives, showing that 52.7 percent say they’re happy.
TurkStat released the results of its “Life Satisfaction Survey” for 2023 on Friday. All participants in the poll were over the age of 18.
According to the data, 52.7 percent of Turks described themselves as happy in 2023, a 3-point increase over the previous year, while only 13.7 said they were unhappy.
Turkey’s women were happier than its men, with 55.1 percent feeling happy compared to 50.3 percent of men.
As a country with a poor record on women’s rights and gender equality in addition to widespread domestic violence, the survey’s results came as a surprise to many.
According to an annual report from The We Will Stop Femicide Platform, there were 315 cases of femicide and 248 women died under suspicious circumstances in Turkey in 2023.
Moreover, just as they were the happiest age group in 2022, people 65 and over were again the happiest in 2023, with 56 percent feeling happy, compared to 57.7 percent in 2022.
TurkStat data showed that family is the greatest source of happiness for most people in the country, with 69.9 percent saying it is their family that gives them the greatest happiness.
Among the country’s most significant problems, the cost of living took the lead with 33.8 percent, followed by education at 16.5 percent, poverty at 13.4 percent and unemployment at 7.3 percent.
Commenting on the TurkStat survey results on X, Hacer Foggo, former anti-poverty campaigner of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), stated that the highest happiness rate being observed among primary school graduates and those who did not complete their education is a situation that needs to be examined sociologically.
“… Beneath this ‘happiness,’ there may also be ‘deep deprivation.’ The happiness of being able to ‘hold onto what you have, to stay afloat’ is actually a precarious situation,” she added.
Detaylara baktım en yüksek mutluluk oranı ilkokul mezunu olanlarda bir de okul bitirmeyenlerde görülmüş. Bu mutluluğun altındaki nedenler bana kalırsa sosyolojik olarak ayrıca incelenmeli, her mutlu birey için geçerli değil tabi ama bu "mutluluğun" altından "derin yoksunluk" da… https://t.co/SilTaoACqo
— Hacer Foggo (@hacerfoggo) February 16, 2024
Turkey dropped two spots in the World Happiness Report 2023 released in March, ranking 106th among 137 countries in a continuation of its downward trajectory over the past several years.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is criticized for mishandling the economy, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges.