Scandinavians may spend a lot of the winter in darkness but they are the happiest people in Europe, according to a study released this month.

Countries like Denmark and Finland scored highest on the study of happiness in Europe carried out by Cambridge University, which also found that the sunny southern countries of Italy, Portugal and Greece got the least joy out of life.

The survey entitled: "No Man is an Island" revealed that countries where people enjoy time with friends and family, have trust in government and national institutions were more likely to be happy than those living in a sunny climate.

The study rated respondents on their overall sense of happiness and life satisfaction on a scale of one to 10.

Danes -- who expressed a high level of trust in their politicians and public institutions -- came top of the field at 8.3. Italians -- who reported lower levels of satisfaction with their national quality of government -- came last at 6.49.

"Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany and France report the lowest levels of happiness whereas the Scandinavian Countries, Netherlands and Luxembourg report the highest," the study said.

Although Europeans are generally four times wealthier than their fathers and grandfathers, their levels of happiness are either equal to or lower than 40 years ago.

The study also looked at factors contributing to happiness within countries and surprisingly found that an interest in politics actually increased happiness.

Lead researcher Luisa Corrado said tax cuts and throwing money at social problems appeared to have no effect on the happiness of citizens when compared with government policies which strengthened and supported wider social networks.

"People are less naive than one would expect, politicians need to tailor their policies and target specific problems in specific areas," she said.

    据本月公布的一项调查表明，虽然斯堪的纳维亚人总是生活在漫长而黑暗的冬季，但他们是欧洲最快乐的人。

    此项由剑桥大学开展的有关欧洲人快乐感的调查显示，丹麦、芬兰等国家的快乐感最高；而阳光充足的南欧国家意大利、葡萄牙和希腊的快乐感却最低。

    这项名为“谁都不是一座岛”的调查发现，与朋友相处得好、家庭幸福、信任政府和国家机关的国民要比那些生活在阳光明媚的国家的人容易快乐。

    这项调查对受访者的总体快乐感和生活满意度进行打分，分值范围为1至10分。

    其中，丹麦人对国家的执政者和公共机构表示了高度的信任，评分为8.3分，居于榜首；而意大利人则对政府的执政能力严重不满，得分6.49，排在最后。

    据调查报告总结：“意大利、希腊、葡萄牙、德国和法国的国民快乐感最低，而荷兰、卢森堡等斯堪的纳维亚地区的人们快乐感最强。”

    尽管欧洲人的富裕程度总体上是他们的父辈和祖父辈的四倍，但他们的快乐感却与40年前的人差不多，甚至更低。

    该调查还对影响国民快乐感的因素进行了探究，结果发现对政治的兴趣竟然能够提升快乐感。

    研究小组负责人路易莎·科拉多说，与能够巩固和支撑更为广阔的社会联系的政府政策相比，税收的减免和为社会问题捐资对国民的快乐感并没有什么影响。

    她说：“国民并非想象中的那么幼稚天真，从政者应针对具体领域的具体问题制定出相应的政策。”姗姗