7 of every 10 people in Turkey hopeful for future

Some 70 percent of Turkey's population is hopeful about their future, said a survey by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Monday.

According to the official Life Satisfaction Survey 2019, the ratio of the people optimistic about their prospects was 69% among men and 70.8% for women.

This was a drop from 72.1% in 2018, the data collected by the government agency showed.

The study said 52.4% of individuals in Turkey were happy in 2019, down from 53.4% the previous year.

"The proportion of individuals who mentioned that they were unhappy was 12.1% in 2018 and 13.1% in 2019," it added. TurkStat said this ratio was 47.6% in men and 57% in women.

In terms of age group, the highest level of happiness was seen among people age 65 and over (58.5%), while the lowest was seen among people age 55-64 (48.7%), the report said.

Meanwhile, 55.6% of married individuals were classified as happy as compared to 45.1% of singles.

Individuals who had not completed their formal education posted the highest level of happiness with 55.4%, TurkStat said, adding: "This was followed by individuals who were higher education graduates with 52.7%, primary education or junior high school graduates with 52.3%, primary school graduates with 51.8%, and high school and equivalent graduates with 50.8%."

Most people, the report said, cited family as a reason for their happiness with 74.1%, followed by children (12.8%), spouse (3.7%), themselves (3.8%), parents (2.5%), and grandchildren (1.6%).

Health, according to the study, was the top source of happiness with 69.9% in 2019, while love, success, money and jobs' ratios being 14.3%, 9.2%, 4.2%, and 2.1%, respectively.