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The World Health Organisation polled thousands of teenagers around the world to rank their life satisfaction levels – and found that Polish 15-year-olds were the least satisfied.

The study measured satisfaction across 15-year-olds, and asked students how satisfied they felt in life, as well as how pressured they felt by school work; how much they like school; and how easy they found it to talk to their mothers. On the other end of the scale to Poland, teenagers from Moldova and Armenia were reportedly the most satisfied with their life.

Unsurprising to Economics and PPE applicants, there was a positive correlation between affluence and happiness in the countries polled. The gap between teenagers in some areas was extreme – for example, 58% of Armenian teenagers reported liking schools, compared to an extraordinarily low 5% of French teenagers. Geography applicants should consider what factors contribute to satisfaction with schooling.

Of interest to HSPS applicants is the discrepancy in self-reporting from boys and girls; boys are generally more likely to be satisfied with their life, but girls are more likely to enjoy school with the two key exception of England and Sweden. Education applicants meanwhile should consider which factors may lead to gendered differences in enjoyment of school – the inverse of life satisfaction trends.

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