More than three quarters of people in the developed world say they are happy, but a clear majority wish their life was simpler, according to a study of adults in 20 of the world's leading powers.
Confounding theories about the rising tide of depression and the withering effect of economic rout, an Ipsos Mori survey of more than 16,000 people worldwide found that 77% were happy, a rate that rose to 88% in Sweden, 85% in Australia and 83% in the US.
Even with the high rate of self-declared happiness, the report found large measures of gloom about the future, about the growing pace of globalisation and the effects of inequality.
People were more optimistic about the prospects for their families and local communities (59%) than they were for the world (22%).
Another interesting discovery was that people in emerging economic powers overwhelmingly agreed that globalisation was good for them (China 81%, India 71%, Brazil 68%).
However, in the richest nations surveyed, the view was quite the opposite: in France, only 24% of people approved of globalisation, a rate that inched up to 37% in the US and 41% in Britain.
The researchers questioned 16,000 adults in the autumn of 2013: 1,000 in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Britain and the US, and approximately 500 in Argentina, Belgium, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey.
