Bulgarien Bulgaria encounters has a major influence on personal well-being. Especially in older age, solid friendships are often more important for happiness than family relationships – not least be cause you get to choose your friends and those bonds can develop and change in nature over each phase of life. Bring up the subject of relationships and people will often assume you mean those of the romantic variety. However, a good social network is also made up of friendships and ac- quaintances. Friendships provide a different kind of connection. They are less burdened by expectation and obligation, and it’s not unusual for people to treat their closest friends with even more respect than they show their spouses. And then there are the looser rapports that are often underestimated – a col- league sharing a joke during a coffee break, a neighbor helping you with a heavy bag on the way up the stairs. There is evidence that the quality of these spontaneous associations and
7.8
EU-Durchschnitt EU average
8.6
Österreich Austria
7.2
Kroatien Croatia
6.0
8.6
Slowenien Slovenia
When you think of “friendship,” who first comes to mind?
28 Das gute Leben ∙ Freundschaften
29 The good life ∙ Friendships
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