Despite household budgets coming under pressure from inflation and a government struggling with Brexit negotiations, people who live in England are getting happier year in, year out, according to official figures.
Since 2011 the Office for National Statistics has asked a series of questions to the over-16s about their levels of life satisfaction, whether they feel worthwhile and how anxious they have been feeling in recent days.
The latest figures, for the 12 months to the end of September, reveal yet another small increase in overall UK happiness, largely led by improving figures among people living in England. Over the last year there have been no significant improvements in happiness in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
When the survey began in April 2011 people were asked to rate themselves out of 10 for “happiness”, and the average came in at 7.29. But the ONS said this has now risen to 7.52. In terms of feeling “worthwhile” the average score has risen from 7.67 to 7.87.
Anxiety levels among the UK population have dropped since 2011, from 3.13 to 2.92, though they are up slightly since their lows in 2015.
Silvia Manclossi, the head of the quality of life team at the ONS, said: “We have seen average ratings of personal wellbeing slightly improving over the years. Factors such as people’s social connections and health status play an important part in personal wellbeing. However, some economic factors are also important, so perhaps this trend over time is not surprising as the country came out of the economic downturn.
“We have also seen inequalities emerging within the data and we will be exploring these further, looking at factors that may contribute to some groups of society having lower personal wellbeing.”
There are marked differences in happiness across the generations. When the survey first began, people aged 16 to 19 reported the highest levels of life satisfaction of any age group. But since 2011 life satisfaction levels among the over-65s has increased significantly.
The happiest age group are now those between 70 and 74 years old. Those aged between 65 and 80 reported higher levels of life satisfaction, feelings of being worthwhile and general happiness than any other age groups. They are also the least anxious.
The people least satisfied with their lot are those aged between 50 and 54, though the ONS figures suggest that even their unhappiness has moderated in recent years.
Women report higher levels of personal wellbeing than men, though they are also more anxious than men.
While men and women report near-identical figures for life satisfaction and happiness, when it comes to feeling worthwhile in life, women feel markedly better than men. On average women give themselves an eight out of 10 score for feeling worthwhile, while men score just under 7.8.
But the ONS figures show a persistent gap between men and women when it comes to anxiety levels. The ONS asked people to rate how anxious they were yesterday, and the average score was 2.9 out of 10, with women at just below 3.1 and men at just below 2.8.
About one in 10 people reported very low levels of life satisfaction in 2011, but this has since eased back to one in 12 people.
