BY COLM BRADLEY
Judging from a new survey released this week a staggering 90% of people in Northern Ireland are happy with their lives with 61% feeling that things will get even better over the next five years.
One thousand people across Northern Ireland have taken part in the survey by BT aimed at discovering what social and cultural values impact most on people aged between 18 and 74 years.
The telephone survey which took 11 minutes to complete on average and has thrown up some interesting results for both the province as a whole and for Fermanagh as a county. There does seem to be some contradictions in the survey. When it comes to our body image Fermanagh people are definitely sending out mixed signals.
Only 10% of people in Fermanagh said that they would consider cosmetic surgery as an option. This is the lowest of any of the counties in Northern Ireland with Down appearing to be the vainest of us all with 20% willing to go under the knife.
But here is the paradox, when asked about their weight 58% of people in Fermanagh stated that their weight was important to their current state of happiness or unhappiness. This was well above the provincial average which sits at 49%.
It seems that Fermanagh people are happy to have a face of crimewatch as long as they have the body of baywatch! Either that or we are a little tight with the money. We are also more attached to our mobile phones than any other county with 37% of us stating that we would miss the mobile phone more than any other appliance. This is a full 7% higher than the average.
Other interesting statistics include the result that faith and moral beliefs are important to the happiness of 62% of people in Fermanagh. This is exactly the average of Northern Ireland. Antrim is way ahead of the pack in respect of morals and beliefs with 72% stating that they were very important to their happiness while in Greater Belfast only 56% of people thought the same. And, BT, who carried out the research must be very happy with Fermanagh people as the result shows that 83% of people in the county are customers of theirs while this figure falls to a mere 59% in Belfast City. Do the city slickers know something that we country bumpkins don't?
Anyway, the questionnaire is available online at /www.whatdoyouvalue.co.uk - So if you think the results are not a fair result of Fermanagh people get online and get clicking.
