Survey finds Turkish people are hopeful, happy

More than 60 percent of Turkish people feel happy, and nearly three-fourths look to the future with hope, according to a new survey by the state Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Unveiling the results of a 2010 poll on happiness, TurkStat said 61.2 percent of Turks feel happy and 72.8 percent look to the future with hope. The study was conducted with the participation of 7,027 individuals, nearly half of them family members. Aiming to measure individual perceptions of happiness and contentment with life, TurkStat asked people to describe their feelings using one of the following words: pain, grief, lack of pain, satisfaction, happiness and joy. On this scale, 61.2 percent of respondents selected happiness or joy, while 10.7 percent selected pain or grief. The poll overall also demonstrated that women are happier than men. Better-educated people were also found to be happier than less-educated ones, and married people happier than single ones.