【英语生活】盖洛普：越来越多的印度人感觉生活困苦

After more than a decade of impressive economic growth, you would expect Indians to feel pretty good about their lives -- or at least better than they used to.

Not true, according to polling data released Monday by Gallup.

The data suggests that more and more Indians see themselves as suffering. The study, which asked people to assess how satisfied they are with their lives using parameters that include health, employment and financial wellbeing, estimates that the number of sufferers went progressively up from 7% of the population in 2008 to 31% in 2012.

And this is happening across income levels. While figures are higher for the poorest segment of the population, the number of rich Indians who see themselves as suffering has risen from 2% in 2008 to 22% in 2012. (Note that by rich they mean the wealthiest 40% of the population, a fairly loose definition.)

Gallup, which based their data on a sample of 5,000 people over the age of 15, measured life satisfaction by asking the people surveyed to rate their lives on a scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best possible life. This measurement, called the Cantril Scale, combines both present and future ratings.

Respondents who fared better than 'suffering' fell into the 'struggling' or 'thriving' categories. The data is measured every three months.

Before 2008, poll data shows Indians were becoming progressively more optimistic. But the 2008 global economic downturn dimmed expectations raised by the 'India Shining' campaign earlier in the decade, said Rajesh Srinivasan, the head of Asia polls for Gallup, speaking at an event in New Delhi.

Surprisingly, fewer people are satisfied with their standards of living now than they were at any point in the past six years: The figure has dropped from 64% of the adult population in 2004 (when it was at its highest) to 51% today.

This doesn't mean the standards of living are declining. They aren't: more people have access to clean water, electricity and cell phones than ever before, recent census data shows. Rather, the Gallup data suggests that people have become more demanding in their expectations, even as they remain uncertain if these will be met.

India is not the only fast-growing economy with a large chunk of pessimists: data released last year showed that 12% of adult Chinese see themselves as suffering.

High up on the criteria used by Gallup to measure wellbeing is employment. Few of those who have a full time job --- 43% of India's adult population, Gallup estimates -- are happy with it: Only 8% of them say their job is right for them and see their working environment as supportive. The rest are either not engaged with their workplace (60%) or feel outright miserable there (32%.)

在经历了10余年令人印象深刻的经济增长之后，你可能会有这样的预期：印度人目前对生活的满意程度会很不错，或者，至少比从前要好。

Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images盖洛普公司公布的调查数据显示，有三分之一的印度人认为自己生活困苦。然而盖洛普公司(Gallup, Inc.)周一公布的调查数据显示，事实并非如此。

数据显示，越来越多的印度人认为自己生活在困苦之中。这项研究让人们用包括健康、就业、财务状况等参数衡量对生活的满意程度。据它统计，认为自己生活困苦的人占总人口的比例在2012年达到31%，而2008年这一比例是7%。

这种情况普遍存在于处于不同收入水平的人群中。尽管最贫困人口中的比例更高，但认为自己生活困苦的富人在全部富人中的占比从2008年的2%上升到了2012年的22%。（请注意，这里的富人指的是总人口中最富的那40%，这个定义较为宽松）

盖洛普的数据以5,000名年龄超过15岁的人为样本，让被调查者用从0到10的数字为生活打分，从而衡量人们对生活的满意度。10代表可能实现的最好生活。这种被称为坎特里尔量表(Cantril Scale)的衡量方法把人们对目前和将来生活的评分结合在了一起。

有些被调查者的打分结果显示为“生活艰难”或是“美满”，这两个等级要高于“困苦”。该调查每三个月进行一次。

相关阅读令人感到惊讶的是，如今满足于自己生活水平的人口比例比过去六年间的任何时候都低：2004年，这个比例是成年人口的64%（该比例的最高值），如今该比例下降到了51%。

这并不意味着人们的生活水平在下降。恰恰相反，最近的人口普查数据显示，与以往相比，能够获得洁净的水和电，以及使用手机的人数在增多。盖洛普的数据显示，是人们的期望变高了，同时，人们仍然不能确定这些期望能否实现。

印度并不是唯一一个拥有大量悲观人口的高增长经济体：去年公布的数据显示，12%的中国成年人认为自己生活困苦。

盖洛普衡量幸福度所使用的参数中，最引人注意的是就业这一项。盖洛普的统计结果显示，拥有全职工作的印度人中，几乎没有人对工作满意。盖洛普估计，拥有全职工作的人占印度成年人口的43%。而在这些人中，只有8%认为他们的工作是适合自己的，工作环境是积极的。60%的人不喜欢自己的工作场所，32%的人感到工作场所完全难以忍受。