In one of the biggest surveys of happiness carried out in the aftermath of the economic crisis, the vast majority of people in Britain, France and Italy have little faith in their governments and think the free market economy is a flawed system.

In contrast, the study carried out by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank shows that in many former communist countries people are more optimistic about the future.

The Life in Transition Survey talked to more than 38,000 households in 34 countries – from Britain in the north to Turkey in the south and from France in the west to Mongolia in the east.

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