Survey finds two in five citizens don’t read books

Two in every five Greeks aged 16 years or above did not visit any cultural sites or read any books in 2022 because they were not interested or did not like them, according to a new survey published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

The 2022 Survey on Income and Living Conditions also found that 47.6% of respondents did not attend any sporting events and 62.2% did not practice any cultural activity, such as music, art or photography.

Overall, three in every five respondents said they were very or completely satisfied with their life in 2022, the survey said.

While 5.2% of the population felt completely satisfied with their life overall, this compared to 1.1% of respondents at the other end of the scale, who said they were not at all satisfied.

When asked on a scale of 1 to 10 as regards their life satisfaction, 58.8% of respondents said that that were very satisfied (points 7 to 9 on the scale).

As regards satisfaction with their financial situation in 2021, 5.7% stated that they did not feel at all satisfied, whereas the respective percentage for those who stated they are completely satisfied amounted to 1.9%.

The biggest share (70.2%) of the poor population – defined as those who live below the poverty line – said they were not at all or somewhat satisfied with their financial situation. The respective percentage for the non-poor population amounted to 25.9%.

Some 55.1% of respondents said they never felt lonely and 41.1% said they were happy most of the time.

Almost nine in ten (88.2%) stated that they had someone from whom they can ask for moral, material or financial help.

A quarter of respondents said they met their relatives every day and 44% said they communicated daily with them.

Under one in ten (7.4%) stated that they participated voluntarily in official social activities, in informal social organizations (6.0%) or were politically active (6.3%).