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Happiness is a nearby mother-in-law

Maltese extended families are an example to the isolated British,
says james bartholomew

Britain is a relatively rich country which strives towards equality and personal freedom. But recent research suggests it is less happy than many much poorer, less equal nations where personal lives are more circumscribed. Why?

Professor Ruut Veenhoven of Erasmus University in Rotterdam has used data from 100,000 people in 90 countries who were asked, on a scale of 1-10, how happy they were. Britain came equal 21st, beaten by much poorer Ghana (at eighth) and Colombia (second). The research is published this month in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

At the top of the list, the country which he reckons has the happiest people of all is an island in the southern Mediterranean: Malta. What has tiny Malta got that we haven't?

By chance, I have just returned from two weeks in Malta and I think I can shed some light on this. Or, rather, my Maltese
This is a country where churches are still being built, not turned into pubs

mother-in-law (left) can. Every now and again I drive my mother-in-law somewhere. As we start off, she starts praying. I admit I took this personally at first. Is my driving that bad?

She reassures me that she prays at the beginning of every journey. She prays because Malta is permeated by religious belief and observance. This is a country where churches are still being built, not converted into pubs.

There is less unemployment - and hidden unemployment - in Malta than in Britain. People tend to get married and stay married, reducing the agony that adults and children experience from the multiple separations that take place. All these things contribute to the greater happiness of Maltese people. But there is something more fundamental.

When I started visiting Malta, I was astonished by the quantity of family and