If you want to find yourself in a happy place, then consider moving to the United Arab Emirates, where most people are generally satisfied with their lot.
However, money and work are the only things bringing them down, according to a lifestyle survey by job site bayt.com.
While everyone across the Middle East and North Africa found plenty to smile about despite political turmoil, nearly half are not pleased with what they earn.
Many also feel they cannot progress their careers, especially in Syria, Jordan, Algeria, and Morocco.
Job satisfaction is low across the region – with the lowest number of extremely satisfied workers in Morocco (15%).
Living costs
Across the MENA region, many complain about stress triggered by rising living costs and tough economic circumstances in many countries.
The UAE came out top in the poll.
More people are happy with their lives – citing safety and security (66%), political stability (60%), easy access to utilities (57%), entertainment (55%) and general infrastructure (45%) as the main sources of their satisfaction.
Generally, three out of four people across MENA feel healthy and around half say they are pleased with their current family relationships.
“Having a good work life balance seems important to people in just about every MENA country,” said a spokesman for the jobs firm.
“Stress is a big factor, which is understandable considering the political and economic upheaval underway in some nations. Nevertheless, despite the stress, most people seem to be content with their lives.”
This is also reflected by where people responding to the survey lived in the region.
Stress
Those living in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries reported higher levels of satisfaction with their lives.
Those in North Arica were not pleased with public transport, general infrastructure and entertainment, while Levant countries – like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – were the unhappiest and expressed the highest dissatisfaction overall with their lives.
“Happiness differs greatly on different factors wherever you live in the region,” said the spokesman. “But overall, the UAE was one of the happier countries and that’s probably due to the people feeling safe in a country with a stable government and economy.”
Although only 13% of UAE residents claimed they were ‘extremely satisfied’, the nation topped the vote on most categories.
Despite this general happiness, nearly two-thirds said they were stressed by everyday life and most blamed the nation’s cost of living as the problem. The other main stressor was work/life balance.
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