Prague, Dec 7 (CTK) – All adults living in two thirds of Czech households are satisfied with their lives, according to the first results of a large survey Changes in Czech Society released yesterday and conducted on 5220 households.
The questioning of the households was held from July to November and it will continue in the next three years.
The survey is organised by the Sociology Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the CERGE-EI institute, and the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University, and it is conducted by the Median and STEM/MARK polling agencies.
In three fifths of the households, people said their health was excellent, very good or good. People from four fifths of the households were satisfied with their accommodation.
Four out of five married men and women and two out of three divorced people were satisfied with their lives.
Satisfaction with one´s life markedly relied on a person´s health. Nine out of ten people whose health was excellent were satisfied with their lives, while only 45 percent of people, who considered their health bad, were happy about their lives.
At least one adult was unhappy about his or her life in 15 percent of households and all adults were dissatisfied with their lives in 8 percent of households.
The survey showed that mostly people in their late 40s and early 50s felt to be under a strong pressure. “These people still must take care of their children but they often have to take care of their parents as well, and they go to work at the same time,” said Michaela Roeschova, from the Sociology Institute.
In each household, the questioning lasted about two hours, it focused on the people´s plans, views and attitudes and children over 10 years took part in it as well.
Roeschova said the survey was inspired by foreign studies and should produce recommendations for social policy.
Daniel Prokop, from Median, said such survey may find causes and connections of social phenomena.
Each household was paid 500 to 1000 crowns for the questioning and the respondents could give the money to charity. In this way, 172,000 crowns was gained from 261 households. In total, over 435,000 crowns was raised, including contributions from polling agencies.
The finances were given to the Helping Paws (Pomocne tlapky) group that trains assistance dogs, the children´s department of the Prague-Bulovka hospital, the Homecoming (Cesta domu) group assisting dying people and their carers, and the Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) group that provides emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict or disasters.
($1=24.802 crowns)
