Danes ranked their general life satisfaction at 8.5 out of 10, while Bulgarians ranked themselves at 5.

The average for EU citizens was 7, the Quality of Life poll conducted for the the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, an EU agency often known as or Eurofound.

The survey, which covers all 27 EU states, as well as Norway and EU candidates Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia, found the Maltese, who joined the political and economic union in 2004, ranked themselves among the 10 happiest people in Europe, while the Portuguese ranked themselves the unhappiest of the 15 original EU countries, the survey found.

The survey showed overall that citizens of the original 15 EU countries and from Norway were happier and more satisfied with their lives than citizens of countries that joined the union in the last four years or citizens from the three EU candidate countries, EUobserver.com reported.

The full results of the survey, carried out from September 2007 to February 2008, will be published in the spring.