Living in small towns is the key to happiness, finds Australian study
According to one study, living in a town with fewer than 1,000 residents may be the key to happiness.
The University of Melbourne recently completed a study titled the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA). The long-term, annual study of 17,000 people examined the factors concerning their happiness.
According to author Associate Professor Roger Wilkins, "The traditional big [factors] are our health, relationships ... being unemployed is extremely bad for your happiness.”
The survey revealed that those who live in smaller towns are generally happier than those who do not.
Additionally, men are found to be more satisfied with their partners than women, and those in de facto relationships come out on top: "De facto couples, on average, report higher levels of satisfaction with their partner than married couples," Wilkins said.
Regarding the higher satisfaction in de facto relationships, Wilkins surmised, "Now there's a few reasons for that; one is that they're less likely to have children, and we find that children do have a negative impact on relationship satisfaction.”
“People who are legally married tend to have been in those relationships longer than de facto couples…We do find a negative effect of relationship duration on satisfaction with the relationship."
While this revelation is slightly depressing, we’re not sure divorcing and moving to Cooladdi, Australia is the answer either.
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