Half of the Europeans are arguing willingly and frequently with their neighbors, mainly because of the noise from children, parties or music, according to an eight-country survey carried out by E.ON and Kantar EMNID.

In Romania, the people are usually arguing with their neighbors because of the noise and smells coming from cooking.

Moreover, Romanians are also in the top three surveyed countries when it comes to those who are most likely to get mad, according to their own responses. The Turks come first with a share of 75%, followed by the Romanians with 73%, and the Czechs with 72%. On the other hand, the survey also revealed that in Germany, the UK, Hungary and Sweden, around a third of those questioned had never felt disturbed by their neighbors.

A total of 42% of Germans have argued about the noise at least once with their neighbors, this being the main reason for most Europeans (the European average being also 42%).

“In a distant second place, with 14%, is the issue of nosy and intrusive neighbors, whilst third place goes to pets who are perceived as disruptive. Barbecues, which are often thought to cause disputes, are down in eighth place in the survey (4%). Arguments are more likely to be caused by driveways being blocked, engines left running or unpleasant smells,” reads the press release.

The Living in Europe study was carried out in December 2016 on a sample of 8,000 people in Germany, the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, Turkey and Hungary.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com