Women worldwide are happier

Dubai: Women around the world are happier despite the global economic slump while men are more prone to be affected by the crisis, a study has revealed.

"Women will weather this storm much better than men because their happiness is not driven by financial matters," Piyush Mathur, regional managing director of Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at The Neilsen Company said. The research firm conducted a global "Happiness Study" in 51 countries, on 28,153 respondents. Women were found to be happier than their male counterparts in matters of relationships and healthcare.

"Because they are happier with non-economic factors, women are more recession-proof, which might explain why women around the world are happier in general than men are," said Bruce Paul, vice-president of Consumer Research for The Nielsen Company.

On an overall level, UAE consumers are most satisfied with their personal security along with their relationships with their spouses or partners compared to respondents in other countries. In the UAE, men tend to be happier with their physical and mental health, their personal financial situation, their job and career and their relationship with their friends compared to women.

Women tend to be more satisfied than men with their personal religious and spiritual beliefs, their access to healthcare in UAE, and the variety of places available for them to shop.

"Despite being impacted by the current global conditions, consumers in UAE are aware that their medium-to-long-term prospects remain strong. When we look around the world and see what is happening, I believe we still have a lot to be happy about," said Mathur.

Globally women are happier than men in 48 of the 51 countries surveyed.

Only in Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam were men found to be happier than women. Men are generally happier with their physical health than women, which is also the case in the UAE.