Is the glass half full?
Happiness Atlas shows people in West German states feel happier. Life satisfaction of men and women in the East are lower than in the West, which the survey claims is caused by the income gap between two regions and higher unemployment in the East. The survey also points out a slightly lower level of health and cultural activity.
Income based
The "Glückslücke" - or the happiness gap - is narrowing, according to the survey. In 1991 East Germany's satisfaction score was 6.0 compared to 7.3 points of the West Germans - the gap of 1.3 points. Today, it stands at its lowest since unification at 0.3.
Deutsche Post AG (2011) DPDHL Glücksatlas [Online] http://www.gluecksatlas.de/cms/index.html [21/09/2011]
Raffelhüschen, Bernd., Moog, Stefan., Vatter, Johannes., Köcher, Renate. & Oswald, Andrew J. (2011) Glücksatlas Deutschland 2011 (2011), p.34. Bonn and Munich: Deutsche Post AG and Albrecht Knaus Verlag.
Siems, Dorothea (2011) Zufriedenheitsstudie: Vom Glück, ledig zu sein und in Hamburg zu wohnen. [Online]
http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article13616435/Vom-Glueck-ledig-zu-sein-und-in-Hamburg-zu-wohnen.html [21/09/2011]
The Local/emh (2011) Happiest Germans live in Hamburg. [Online] http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110920-37707.html [21/09/2011]
