What are the best and worst countries in Europe? I’ve never met an interesting statistic I haven’t liked. Especially lifestyle and attitudinal survey data that cast a light on how people feel about themselves and others - in this case, revealing the best and worst countries in Europe. And, I especially like the sometimes snarky interpretations of study results.
Take BBC Travel, an always-interesting source of information from which we often generously borrow. The writer’s interpretation of a recently reported survey of 7,600 Europeans by the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project was great fun. The BBC led with this headline: “Are the French really as arrogant as the surveys say?”
Now, there was plenty of good stuff in the survey to comment on, but singling out the French stereotype in the headline? Really? The arrogance honor actually went to Germany, followed by France.
In the spirit of the recent Cannes film festival, we present the Pew award categories with winners and my semi-snarky commentary:
- Least arrogant country: Spain (they humbly voted for themselves)
- Most trustworthy: Germany (they’ve bailed out everyone else, so they deserved a little love)
- Least trustworthy: Italy and Greece (Berlusconi and Greek tax cheats…need we say more?)
- Most compassionate: Everyone voted for themselves (love begins at home)
- Least compassionate: Germany…ouch! Biting the hand that feeds you. Doubly so in Greece, where Germany was rated the lowest in every single category
- Most positive about their economy: Germany…the only EU country in positive economic territory, so why not?
- Most dissatisfied with the direction of their country: Greece…it’s not surprising what years of austerity and high unemployment will do for the collective psyche of a country
Five boxes of popcorn rating to BBC Travel for bringing this most recent Pew study to our attention. If you have a favorite, let us know.