The happiest people in Germany live here

After most corona measures were lifted, people in Germany are a little happier again – but fears of war and inflation continue to slow them down.

This emerges from the "Happiness Atlas" presented on Tuesday, which the University of Freiburg created with the support of the Süddeutsche Klassenlotterie (SKL). "We have bottomed out, but half of the way is still ahead of us," said the scientific director of the study, Bernd Raffelhüschen, according to the announcement.

"North Rhine-Westphalia is the climber of the year," explained the authors of the study. The federal state climbed from sixth place in the previous year to third place in the current state comparison. On a scale from 0 to 10, North Rhine-Westphalia rated their general satisfaction at an average of 6.98 points - 0.25 points more than in 2021. Before the pandemic, the value was a much higher 7.17.

According to the study, the happiest people in Germany continue to live in Schleswig-Holstein. At the other end of the country ranking is Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as the "unhappiest federal state".

On a scale from zero (“completely dissatisfied”) to ten (“completely satisfied”), Schleswig-Holstein scores 7.14 points and its eastern neighbor 6.35 points. Bavaria (7.06 points) is in second place in the country comparison, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (6.98 points). Even if the difference in happiness has increased slightly in an east-west comparison, Brandenburg (5th place) and Saxony-Anhalt (9th place) are currently in the middle, Saxony (10th place), Thuringia (13th place) and Berlin (15th place ) in the back seats. On average, people gave their life satisfaction at 6.68 points.

On average, people in western Germany are a little happier than people in the east. During the pandemic, the difference in happiness between East and West has almost disappeared. But recently it has grown again. "The disadvantages that the West had during the pandemic will no longer play a role in 2022: High proportions of younger people, families, city dwellers and the self-employed usually guarantee a higher level of happiness in a region."

"Aha! Ten minutes of everyday knowledge" is WELT's knowledge podcast. Every Tuesday and Thursday we answer everyday questions from the field of science. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed.