Although it has been well-established that many Luxembourg workers receive high wages, with the country topping an average wage list of OECD countries in 2014, a more intriguing question is perhaps how these figures translate into employee satisfaction.

A 'Quality of Life in European Cities 2015' survey by the European Commission found that 71% of total Luxembourg respondents claimed that they were 'Satisfied' with their personal job situation, placing the country in joint 7th place alongside Vilnius (Lithuania), London (England), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Warsaw (Poland) in a list of EU capitals. Employees in the Austrian capital of Vienna were the most positive, with 79% 'Totally Satisfied', whilst Greece lay bottom of the list with 45%.

Only 5% of working Luxembourgers stated that they were 'Not at all' satisfied with their job situation, with most people (41%) describing themselves as 'Very satisfied' and 31% 'Fairly satisfied'. At the top of the scale, 16 cities boasted citizens of which more than three-quarters cited satisfaction with their employment situation, including five French cities, whilst three Greek cities were among the 14 which demonstrated that at least three in ten respondents were found dissatisfied with their own situation.

"For this survey more than 40,000 people were interviewed in 79 cities and in 4 greater cities, allowing comparisons with previous surveys," explained Corina Creţu, European Commissioner for Regional Policy. "Some findings give a positive picture of our European cities and demonstrate improvements [...] Other findings point to on-going problems."

For the period 2013-2015, findings from the 'World Happiness Report 2016 Update' placed Luxembourg 20th out of 157 countries with a happiness ranking of 6.871. Paying the most amount of tax as a percentage of GDP in the EU, according to an infographic published by the European Parliament, does not appear to affect Denmark, which was found top of the list with a ranking of happiness of 7.526.

The Grand Duchy's happiness was, unsurprisingly, predominantly explained by its GDP per capita, followed by its social support; healthy life expectancy; perceptions of corruption; and, in last place, its generosity. Luxembourg's latest 2016 ranking puts it among 28 countries, including Iceland and Malta, which have not experienced change in this assessment from the previous year.

 

Picture from Happiness Report 2016 Update