IRELAND HAS PLACED 9th in the world of a new survey that ranks the optimism and satisfaction of people with their lives – despite the significant unemployment rate and ongoing economic problems.

The Gallup Global Wellbeing Surveys asked people to score their satisfaction of their current standard of living, and of their expectations on how that standard of living would change for the next five years.

It then categorises each response as whether that person is ‘thriving’, ‘struggling’ or ‘suffering’, and compiles national statistics based on the results.

Ireland was one of 19 countries where a majority of respondents said they were ‘thriving’, tied in ninth place alongside the Netherlands at 62 per cent.

Just 3 per cent of Irish people said they were ‘suffering’, while 36 per cent ranked themselves as ‘struggling’.

Gallup said the prevalence of European and North American countries in the top-ranking countries was expected, given the established connection between wellbeing and a country’s economic output.

Denmark ranked highest of the countries surveyed, scoring a 72 per cent ‘thriving’ rate, ahead of Sweden and Canada on 69 per cent and Australia on 65 per cent.

The United Kingdom scored 54 per cent, while the United States scored 59.

By comparison, 67 of the respondent countries had fewer than 25 per cent with such confidence, with Chad scoring lowest at just 1 per cent – while 80 per cent of that country’s population ranked themselves as ‘struggling’.

Bulgarians were the most negative about their prospects in overall, with 40 per cent of them actively describing themselves as ‘suffering’.

Gallup spoke to around 1,000 adults in 124 countries in conducting the survey.

Out of 10, how would you rank your happiness with your current standard of living?