(MENAFN- Morocco World News) In the latest study conducted by Wayne Gallup International for Independent Research polls found that Saudi Arabia's citizens consider their country to be among the world's third happiest.
For the survey titled the 'Happiness International Index' more than 66040 people from 68 countries were polled asking them “In general do you personally feel very happy happy neither happy nor unhappy unhappy or very unhappy about your life?”
The rankings of the happiest countries hardly featured any European ones. The study showed that Colombia is the happiest country in the world with an 85% net happiness (percentage of happiness minus unhappiness) followed by Fiji Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. Iceland was the only European country to make the top 10 sharing a joint tenthposition with China. According to the survey net happiness globally is 56 percent. Sixty-six percent say that they feel happy about their lives down from 70 percent in 2014. The study also ranks optimism. Overall two-thirds of all respondents said that they are happy down slightly from 70 percent in 2014. '2015 has been a tumultuous year for many across the globe” Jean-Marc Leger the president of WIN/Gallup International Association was quoted as saying in the report. “Despite that the world remains largely a happy place.” According to the study Saudi Arabia was ranked sixth in describing this year to be a better one despite protests for human rights abuses and Amnesty International calling 2015 'a year of bloody repression' for the country. Saudi Arabia has been internationally condemned by human rights groups. Women are still informally banned from driving journalists such as Raif Badawi have been publically lashed and imprisoned and the government actively oppresses Shia Muslims. The sex segregation corporal punishment and sectarian oppression did not create pessimism among citizens however. Last year did mark historical achievements for the development of human rights in the region. Women voted in elections for the first time in December. The poll findings suggest that perceptions of 'happiness' do not translate to the current state of human rights abuses in the region.
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