ONE frequent stumbling block for the European project is the fact that different countries want different things. Recent Eurostat polling on self-reported happiness highlights those divergences. As usual, Scandinavians are the happiest people in Europe and retired Danish women are the cheeriest among them, reporting a happiness score of 8.5 out of 10. In general, geography is the best predictor of merriness, followed by pay. At all income levels a step up one quintile on the income scale makes people more content. Yet the poorest 20% of Danes are more joyful than the richest Greeks.

Where one lives within a country is also important. Around the Mediterranean people prefer towns, while near the Arctic Circle rural life is best. Procreation affects cheerfulness too. In southern Europe families with children are happiest, whereas the British and Irish are the only people to become sadder when little ones arrive. Ageing draws out differences. Everyone is happiest when young and less so in middle age. But in old age the British and Scandinavians cheer up while in the south retirement is a miserable affair. Debt crises and financial woes are not the only reason life within Europe is so often frowned upon.