By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO, July 13 (Reuters) - Bosnians are generally satisfied with their lives despite financial hardships, but don't trust each other, a survey by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) showed on Friday.

Nearly two-thirds of 3,580 people interviewed throughout the country said their lives have improved in the past year, but at the same time 88 percent said things had worsened in the country as a whole, the study showed.

"It's very interesting (that there is) a big difference between life satisfaction that is fairly high despite problematic financial situations," said Stefan Priesner, the UNDP deputy head in Bosnia.

"This differs dramatically between the assessment of the people about the situation in Bosnia at large," he told a news conference.

The perceptions of Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats on most social issues no longer differed solely according to ethnic affiliation but increasingly according to age, health and other parameters.

"The ethnic divisions are to a large extent imagined, there are no significant differences in economic fears between different groups and differences come from other parameters," Priesner said.

Those surveyed were united in their distrust of each other, with only 7.2 percent saying they had faith in other people.

"Our data indicate that social trust has dramatically broken down in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It had not yet recovered from the traumatic events from the (1992-95) war," Priesner said.

Eighty-six percent identified themselves as Bosnian citizens and only 14 percent solely with their ethnic or religious group, which was an encouraging sign, Priesner said.

Most agreed that the system of government, dividing the country into two autonomous regions, was too complicated and should change but the three ethnic groups differed on how it should change.

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