48 percent Chinese feel - very happy - happy - in 2005

China Travel Services

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- About 47.6 percent of the Chinese respondents to a recent survey say they were "very happy" or "happy" in 2005, 8.7 percentage points higher than in 2004.

The Social Survey Institute of China, a former governmental institution, interviewed 2,000 people in 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities since November 2005, in its routine annual survey of how much citizens are satisfied with and feel happy about their daily life.

According to the survey, 74.4 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the international status of China, up from 67 percent in 2004.

The survey shows that 48.5 percent, 44.8 percent, 39 percent and 39 percent of the respondents feel satisfied with their health conditions, the level of material life, the level of spiritual life and the level of education, respectively, which are 3.1, 12.8,7.4 and 8.8 percentage points higher than in 2004.

Compared with previous years, "the degree of social harmony" was added to the survey. Some 39.9 percent of the respondents chose "satisfactory" while 24 percent felt "unsatisfactory" and 36.1 percent, "so-so."

"Although the Chinese government has endeavored to create a harmonious society in China, the 'degree of social harmony' is still lower than expected," says the survey report.

The survey show reveals that 33.7 percent of the respondents said they were satisfactory with their family life, a drop from 41percent in 2004.

Another 20.5 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with their housing, a fall of 12.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

While asking about the practice to carry forward "traditional ethics," 38.2 percent of the respondents said they were unsatisfactory, which is a hefty rise of 24 percentage points from2004.

The institute has conducted the annual surveys for 10 years.