National
The portrait of a happy Spaniard
By m.p.
Mar 18, 2008 - 10:09 PM

The profile of a happy Spaniard is someone who lives either in Aragón, Cataluña, Navarra or Extremadura, is married or with a stable partner, and is between the ages of 26 and 35. They will also have one or two children, EFE reports.

This ‘portrait of happiness’ in Spain comes from a survey of 3,000 people carried out by Coca-Cola, presented by the company’s President, Marcos de Quinto, and its author, Eduardo Punset, on Tuesday. The main ingredients for a happy life are health – put top by both men and women, followed by love then money for women, and the reverse for men. 59% of women said they were very happy, dropping down to 41% for the men. Only 5% of those who said they were very happy live alone, and eight out of ten have a partner.

Eduardo Punset concludes that being happy does not depend on income, from the result that Spaniards from one of the poorest regions, Extremadura, are amongst the happiest, and one of the richest, Madrid, comes out below average on the happy-ometer.

Stacking some Zs for happiness. Archive photo - EFE.

Some of the pastimes which the survey showed make Spaniards very happy include listening to music, visiting the cinema or the theatre, with other particular pleasures put down as shopping, birthday or Christmas celebrations, or sleeping a siesta.