The curmudgeonly main character from the hit Swedish film “A man called Ove” is an exception to the rule, it seems.

 

Indeed, a new study from Novus has found that it's the older, male Swedes who are most likely to say they're feeling well. 

 

The survey asked Swedes to respond with “well” or “not well” to “Hur mår du?” (How are you?), a rather general question that can take in anything from physical and mental health to someone's current mood.

 

A full 87 percent of men aged 65-79 said they felt well, with only 5 percent saying they didn't. (Full disclosure, Rolf Lassgård, the star of A Man Called Ove who is pictured above, is only 61). 

 

For women in the same age category, the survey found 82 percent were satisfied enough to say they were doing well. 

 

Meanwhile, the youngest group surveyed, 18-29-year-olds, saw 71 percent of respondents ticking the “well” box. For the women of the same age, it was 73 percent. 

 

“Older men probably don't think as much about their health as older women do,” said Eva Fernvall, a spokesperson at Apoteket, which funded the survey. 

 

“And at the same time, I think younger women are very conscious about what they need to do to feel good, as opposed to young men who perhaps aren't so engaged in their own physical health.”

 

When taking gender and age out of the equation, the group that felt the worst was singles. 

 

Those with a household income above 600,000 kronor a year felt the second best. 

 

In the last study of its kind, in 2011, Swedes were feeling better overall, with 83 percent then, compared to just 77 percent today.