Richard Bogu was surprised by the World Happiness Report, but feels optimistic about the future for young Lithuanians.Joshua Nelken-Zitser/Business Insider
Bogu said he feels optimistic about the future, especially for people his age — the tech industry, in which he works, is booming, salaries are rising, and jobs are ample.
“This country gave me opportunities,” he said.
A key benefit is that most Lithuanians can enter the workforce unburdened by student debt, as university education is free for many. Wages are rising rapidly, and the expanding startup sector is eager to hire young talent.
No country for old men
But while things may be looking up for the younger generation, older Lithuanians don’t seem to share the same optimism.
According to Eurostat’s 2023 overall life satisfaction survey of those aged 65 years or over, older Lithuanians are nowhere near as happy as the country’s youth.
This generational divide bears out in the World Happiness Report. While Lithuania ranked first for those under 30, it was 19th across all age groups, dragged down by its 44th-place ranking for those over 60.
“If you don’t have children or grandchildren to care for you, you’re basically done,” Bogu said.
Retirees in Lithuania receive some of the lowest pensions in Europe, and have among the lowest median relative income of older people across the European Union.
Data provided to BI by Lithuania’s Ministry of Social Security and Labour shows that 62% of those who died by suicide in 2023 were over 50, with 8.7% under 30.
It’s a far starker divide than in countries like the US or UK, pointing to a chasm between the generations.
Antanas Grižas, a clinical psychologist specializing in suicide prevention in Lithuania, said the generational divide is deeply felt in the country, as well as elsewhere in the former Soviet Bloc.
He told BI that economic factors, such as low retirement incomes, certainly impact mental health, but that the historical context is key, too.
In 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare independence.NurPhoto/Getty Images
“The changes after the fall of the Soviet Union were very fast and drastic,” he says. Those who lived through this period faced a double trauma: enduring Soviet rule and navigating the chaotic transition to an independent capitalist nation.
Plus, as Grižas points out, psychiatry was sometimes politicized under Soviet rule, with dissidents being labeled as mentally ill, which has strengthened a generational stigma over mental health.
“The Gen Z, haven’t experienced that directly, ” he noted. “So it makes total sense that they have different conditioning and a different mindset.”
Reports like the happiness rankings are also often based on self-assessments, and Grižas suggests that comparisons may play a key part in the variation between the generations.
“The younger generation can easily compare and see the progress that we as a nation made,” he said.
Domantas Katelė is often referred to as the “Gen Z minister.”Joshua Nelken-Zitser/Business Insider
Katelė, the “Gen Z minister,” agrees that the positive self-assessments among the youth may have been influenced by their awareness of the hardships faced by their elders.
While the previous generation was deprived of luxuries, he said Gen Z can relish the freedom to spend the equivalent of $160 on dinner, to vacation abroad, and to participate in democracy.
“If they take a look and think about that,” he said, “it’s just not possible to not be happy.”
Correction: September 19, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Domantas Katelė’s job title. He is a deputy minister, not a minister.
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 07:36:00
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