Almost nine in ten Dutch adults qualify themselves as ‘happy’, according to figures from national statistics office CBS.

The results, published on the International Day of Happiness, are based on a poll conducted in 2017 in which over 7,000 respondents rated their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10.

Happiness started with a score of 7 or higher while 5 or 6 indicated neither happy nor unhappy. Despondent respondents gave their lives a score of between 1 to 4. The latter category accounted for 3%.

According to the CBS findings, people in work and with good qualifications are happier than people who are unemployed and unskilled.

The CBS said it is not possible on the basis of this poll to say if happy people are oftener in work or that having a job makes people happy, or that both are the result of other factors. ‘Perhaps all three are true,’ the CBS writes.

The most important causes for happiness are good health and a social network, the statistics office said.

The Netherlands recently came sixth in the UN World Happiness Report which rates caring, freedom, generosity, health, income and good governance. According to the survey Finland has the happiest citizens. Burundi came last.