Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1459407
10 Unity SUNDAY 13 MARCH 2022 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Family life: better when older In general, almost 95% are satisfied with family life, with women being 'very satisfied' (76%) at a higher rate than men (67%). The highest concentrations of family satisfaction can be found across all ages. But the older one gets, it seems, the more one is 'very satisfied' with fam- ily life, peaking at middle-age (46-55) with 81%. This rate then tapers off gently after 56, with 78% 'very satisfied' with family life; and down to 74.8% for those aged 66 and over. In- deed, in this age bracket, outli- ers who say they are 'absolutely not satisfied' with their family number only 1%. As expected, respondents who are married were more likely to say they are 'very satisfied' with family life (81.2%) as opposed to those not in a relationship. Here, there was a higher de- gree of respondents who said they were 'not so satisfied with family life at 11%, compared to 1.3% among the married. But unmarried respondents still registered an overall satisfac- tion of satisfaction – 88.4% or both 'very satisfied' and 'satis- fied'. But in general, the highest rates of satisfaction were found among those with a secondary education, the self-employed, homemakers and in respond- ents residing in Gozo – all above 80%. Clearly, out-of-work respond- ents were definitely 'not so sat- isfied' with their family life at 25.5% – a rate that was clearly out of step with other groups and demographics, where sim- ilar negative ratings were less than 10%. Another visible sign of dis- content was found in the west- ern region, where 14.8% of re- spondents said they were 'not so satisfied with family life. Social life – more money, more fun? Again, rates of 86.8% satisfac- tion for all respondents point to a general approval for their social life, with only 11% say- ing they were 'not so satisfied' – in this last category, wom- en (14.5%) being more pro- nounced than men (7%). Across age groups, life satis- faction ('very' and 'satisfied') climbed to over 80%, while similar levels of dissatisfac- tion fluctuated between 9-13% among all age groups – again, reflecting overall sentiment. The same pattern was observed among the married and single persons. Clear rates of satisfaction with one's social life however emerge in those with high in- comes and paying tax of over 35% – 80% said they were 'sat- isfied' with their social life. Un- like lower earners, this group did not register any levels of dissatisfaction with social life. Indeed, the higher rate of those 'not so satisfied' with their so- cial life was found among those paying 15% tax (12.5%) or those with the lowest incomes at zero tax (9.5%). Again, a clear demarcation of satisfaction with social life can be in Gozo: in this case, Gozitan respondents were the least likely to be dissatisfied with their social life, just 2.5% compared to higher rates of dissatisfaction elsewhere. Money: education matters A different pattern on life sat- isfaction emerges where money concerns come in. In general, satisfaction is high across the board (over 67%), but this is nuanced by those who say they are simply 'satisfied' at 45% and a good 25% who say they are 'not so satisfied' with their financial situation. While such levels of preoc- cupation with money find no noticeable differences among genders, the higher rates of dissatisfaction (above 25%) are found among adults aged 26, right up to senior working age. Equally, these groups among the lowest levels of respond- ents who were 'very satisfied' with their financial situation. Further down the demo- graphic divide, these rates of dissatisfaction were mostly pronounced among those with a post-secondary education (35.9% 'not so satisfied') and least among the tertiary edu- cated (19.9%). Conversely, ter- tiary educated were the most likely to be satisfied with their financial situation (80.1%) and post-secondary respondents the least (58.2%), a sign that ed- ucational attainment delivered some form of financial security. However, the highest rate of financial satisfaction was evi- dent among the self-employed, with 90% overall satisfaction (80% said they were 'satisfied'), Security, family and job quality, essential for life sastifaction DATA > Data compiled by Sagalytics for the Faculty for Social Wellbeing