BERLIN: They have active social lives, plenty of money and lots of friends. But according to a new survey Germans are the most pessimistic nation in Europe, with over-50s convinced their circumstances are getting inexorably worse.

The survey by the firm Emnid compared attitudes among over-50s towards the future in Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland. It revealed striking regional differences, with the Germans consistently the most negative and the British and the Spanish a lot more cheerful. Asked about their own economic situation over the next 20 years, nearly two-thirds of Germans thought it would get worse. Britons, however, expected only a small decline.

The survey also revealed that Germans enjoy the most energetic sex life in Europe, with sex important for 73% among the over-50s. In Britain the figure is 50%. The British also came last when it came to physical exercise. Only 28% of over-50s in the UK take part in regular physical exercise, the survey revealed, compared with 52% in Germany. In Spain the figure is 47%, and 43% in France.

The survey appears to have surprised nobody in Germany, where cultural pessimism has been a national hobby since the time of Nietzsche. Other gloomy German thinkers have included Schopenhauer and the historian Oswald Spengler, experts noted. Reporting the study, based on interviews with about 500 people in each country, the bestselling Bild newspaper declared on its front page yesterday, “What we always suspected a survey has now confirmed: the Germans are world champions in pessimism.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service