We are? The world is really going downhill isn't it?
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Maybe you're fairly content with life, as was the case with us in Finland being the "happiest country on earth".
But you don't worry about your glaciers melting. Or your corrupt government. You keep buying cheap Russian gas and being happy. Happiness is like ignorance, it's a bliss. So, don't worry, be happy.
how bad is it there? I’d imagine lots of European countries are doing worse
It's actually quite okay. Inflation is just high (above average), the prices of everyday life have been skyrocketing for months. Buying real estate has become impossible for most people. Our far-right party has been at the top of the polls for almost exactly a year. Nevertheless, it has to be said that the common Austrian is doing quite well. Public transport is relatively good (at least in the cities) an annual ticket for the whole of Austria costs only €1095 (price for a single state starts at €365). Nature is beautiful, food is good, education is free, social system works. So, could be worse.
How much for rent a simple apartment?
Depends on the size and your patience. A single room apartment can be had for <€400 if you get lucky.
And if you have enough patience to get into the government housing program, you pay next to nothing. Buildings older than 1955 are also regulated and quite cheap.
You can also get cooperative housing flats (and even houses) with quite a low rent. We pay <€800 for about 80m².
But we did have some 10% increase over the last year.
And for all of these cheap options you need a lot of patience (between half a year and 5 years). If you need a flat right now, you can easily pay double of that on the free market.
(All these numbers are for the capital city Vienna. Prices in other places can be much lower. There are dieing villages in many rural areas, where houses are pretty affordable, because nobody wants them.)
And the income for one? I'd imagine the taxes would tend to flat out a lot of differences, but I know it's gonna depend on so many things that's it's best to omit it.
The median income before tax is €55 731 per year and after tax and mandatory health insurance €38 623 per year. That's per full-time worker, not per household.
Wikipedia tells me the per-person median income in the USA is $56 287.
Thanks for the numbers! Seems pretty comfy, especially compared to a less developed country with greater disparity.
How's your political climate these days? I know Germany is seeing AfD getting higher ratings for various reasons, but somehow never thought about its German-speaking neighbors.
We are sadly ahead of Germany by 10-15 years. Our right wing equivalent (FPÖ) has been around since the country was re-founded after WW2.
They had their ultra-radical time about 25-30 years ago. Since then they have been in government (I think) three times as a minor partner. Every time there was some big corruption/financial scandal that kicked them back out of government and reduced their election result massively. But time and time again, people keep forgetting and they rise again. Currently they lead again in the polls.
Luckily, due to their incompetence, they never managed to do much harm, and due to the fact that they actually want to get into government, they are not as crazy radical as the AFD.
So, it's not good, but it's not as bad as Germany, Hungary or Italy.
There's no talk about exiting the EU since Brexit, they don't have the power to get rid of asylum (though they diverted funds from asylum-related issues), and by now they actually argue for "qualified, legal migrants".
Other than that, the conservatives have been in government for ~20 years or so, with changing partners. That's not exactly good, since they do have had a few scandals where they pushed a fair bit of money to the super rich in the country.
The social democrats elected a marxist as a leader, and since then they managed to overtake the conservatives in the polls.
The neoliberals get ~9% in the polls and they effectively never managed to do anything with that.
The greens are jumping rather wildly in the polls, and even though they only get 8-15% they currently hold the President and are in government.
So for those who don't want to give a click to this rag, here is the article published by the EU with links to the study: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Quality_of_life_indicators_-_overall_experience_of_life
Edit: updated the link as the one I posted was to the previous study from 5 years ago
This article is about the old study from 2018, not the new one from 2023. 2 of the links bellow lead to an empty page.
This is not about Europe, but EU. The title is garbage.
You'd have to take that up with The Independent.
Aren't EU country most wealthy in Europe?
Non-EU countries in Europe that are not currently candidates or waiting to join, are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and now also UK.
Depending on how you measure, several of them are considered wealthy countries.
I see.... Wait UK is rejoining?
Wasn't that Denmark or Finland for many years in a row before?
Upvoted for saving me a click!
20 per cent of adults were “overwhelmed by anxiety”
This concerns me. To be struck down by anxiety in the first place, you have to give a fuck. Frankly, avoiding anxiety, even when you deserve it, is a big part of why not giving a fuck is so popular.
Anyways though, they're people that care, just being bludgeoned by their information environment. Into paralysis, eventually, if it gets bad enough.
Anyone having a full list? This article is kinda free of information, and full of ads
This article is kinda free of information
I would say it's ... independent of information. Ba dum tss.
Ah, yes. We Germans are notorious "miesepetrig".
In fact, we would be even more grumpy if there wasn't Stuff to be grumpy about. Our highest compliment is "Für den Preis kann man nicht meckern." (You can't complain about it for that price).
This is the best summary I could come up with:
New figures from the EU’s statistics agency rank Austria as the happiest country in the 27-member bloc.
Austria scored an overall 7.9 out of 10 in Eurostat’s annual publication of its “quality of life indicators”, which is based on surveys conducted throughout member states.
It said that factors such as level of education, family and financial stability impacted survey respondents’ overall satisfaction with their lives, rather than simply wealth.
Italy, Spain and France, three of the largest economies in the EU, all hover around the 7.1 average for the continent.
While the study does not indicate the cause behind the drop in the general life satisfaction of a German, it appears consistent with other polls that reflect a dip in the mood of the country’s residents.
Concerns appear to be related to Germany’s economic stagnation, the Ukraine war and immigration.
The original article contains 361 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
How is Poland in second? I call bullshit on this article
EU != Europe
We finished second. Oh well, that's pretty good too