Europe Affluents: Can Money Buy Happiness?

Europe’s most Affluent enjoy life and work! According to the Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe 2016, 76% of the Affluent enjoy their life* and 66% enjoy work*. But are all Affluent equally happy? The answer is no.

Who has the greatest ‘joie de vivre’?

• Enjoyment of life is likely to have a link with wealth, those with a personal income of €100k+ are happier than their less affluent counterparts.
• Youth does not guarantee happiness. The more mature Affluents get more satisfaction out of life than their companions under 35.
• The Western European Affluents (77%) are happier than the Eastern European Affluents (66%).
• Sporty Affluents are happier than the Affluents that aren’t taking part in sports regularly.
• The Affluents that work over 70 hours a week enjoy their life more than the Affluents that work less.
• Feeling financially secure is related to happiness, because Affluents that feel financially secure are happier (85%) than Affluents that don’t feel financially secure (62%).

Is job satisfaction guaranteed?

• 4 out of 6 Affluent enjoy their work.
• Income and job satisfaction go hand in hand: those with a higher personal income are significantly happier with their jobs (73%) than those Affluents in the lower income segments (65%) – although they are still relatively wealthy in comparison to the average European.
• Job satisfaction is most likely to occur in middle age between the ages of 35 and 54.
• The Western European Affluents get equal job satisfaction as their Eastern European colleagues.
• Affluents that sport on a regular basis are more satisfied with their jobs than their counterparts that don’t (actively) take part in a sport.
• Affluents that work over 70 hours a week get more job satisfaction than Affluents that work less.
• Feeling financially secure has an impact on job satisfaction, as the Affluents that feel financially secure enjoy their work more (74%) than the Affluents that don’t feel financially secure (52%).

The Affluent database represents 52.2 million Affluent Europeans. The universe accounts for the Top 13% of all adults, within the 18+ age group. The European top 13% are defined as main income earners within the top 20% households in each of the 21 survey countries, measured by household income. N=27,751. Fieldwork period 12th of January 2015 - 20th of December 2015.

*All responses ‘strongly agree’ and ‘tend to agree’ on statements ’I enjoy life’ / ‘I enjoy work’
**Any sport actively taken part in measured on Ipsos Affluent Survey Europe (for the classification data, see the pdf).
*** All responses ‘strongly agree’ and ‘tend to agree’ on statement ’I feel financially secure’, for ‘don’t feel financially secure’ ‘tend to disagree’ and ‘disagree’