Some 47.2% of the population of the Republic of Moldova considers they are “very happy or somehow happy”, without differences by sex, according to the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). The number declines with advancing age from 74% in the group of the youngest ones (15-19 years) to 24.0% in the group of the oldest ones (75-79 years), IPN reports.

The happiest persons are those from the municipality of Chisinau (51.6%), while the number of persons from the central region of the country who consider themselves “very happy or somehow happy” is the lowest (43.2%). The state of happiness was more often declared by married persons (twice higher than among divorced or widowed ones), persons with higher education than those with lower levels of education, working people than those who are out of job.

Some 3.1% of the population declared a severe degree of loneliness, without significant differences by sex and place of residence, urban or rural. The severe degree of loneliness rises together with advancing age, affecting about one in ten oldest persons. The feeling of moderate loneliness was declared by one in seven persons, oscillating between 7.1% and 19.6% in different age groups.

Each eighth person (11.9%) said they experienced forms of depression the past week, with an insignificant difference by the place of residence (11.4% in urban areas and 12.2% in rural areas). The difference by sex is typical of all the age groups, being higher in the case of women than of men – 14.9% against 8.7%. The lower is the level of education, the higher is the rate of depression, from 6.9% among persons with higher education to 17.5% among persons with primary education.

The Generations and Gender Survey conducted by UNFPA Moldova covered a sample of over 10,000 respondents from 153 localities.