Overall, the sample tended towards the positive: 46% were satisfied or very satisfied (16% in the latter category), a fifth (21%) were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and the remaining third (34%) were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (10% in this last category).

This is important – city-regions are robust, energetic, creative, wealthy, stylish places, and it should not be surprising to find that almost half of the respondents living in the GCR feel satisfied with their lives. Given the bad press that the grime and crime that accompanied the transition to democracy has attracted, it is easy to lose sight of this basic fact – that only a minority of those living in the GCR are dissatisfied.

Most of those who were satisfied, when asked why they said so, had no answer beyond the fact that they were happy or satisfied. Others ascribed it to their friends or family, one in ten had achieved their dreams, a similar proportion had ‘no worries’, others felt cared for, and finally – the smallest proportion of those who were satisfied – had either work or sufficient money to feel good.

It is worth noting that the vast majority of those who gave positive reasons cited non-material factors – only a few respondents cited their jobs or wealth as the reason for their positive feelings.