Well-being

Societal and personal well-being in the UK looking beyond what we produce, to areas such as health, relationships, education and skills, what we do, where we live, our finances and the environment. This data comes from a variety of sources and much of the analysis is new.

Highlights

Personal well-being in the UK: April 2018 to March 2019

What's in the bulletin?

  • In the year ending March 2019, there was little change in personal well-being measures in the UK, apart from a slight improvement in average happiness ratings which increased from 7.52 to 7.56.
  • Over this period, the only significant change at country level was in Northern Ireland, where anxiety ratings increased from 2.53 to 2.83 (out of 10). This brought Northern Ireland back into line with the other UK countries on this measure.
  • The first year from which we have a full UK baseline at local level is the year ending March 2013. Since then, average life satisfaction improved by 3.4% in the UK, with the largest improvement recorded in London (4.6%) at regional level.
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Personal and economic well-being in the UK: February 2020

What's in the bulletin?

  • Life satisfaction fell in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2019 compared with the year before, as concerns about future employment prospects grew.
  • This is the first time (since we started measuring them in 2011) that both our life satisfaction and feeling that things done in life are worthwhile significantly fell, when compared with the year before.
  • Average anxiety ratings remained at an elevated level in the quarter to September 2019, with around 10.6 million people reporting high anxiety.
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Measures of National Well-being Dashboard

It monitors and reports how the UK is doing by producing accepted and trusted measures for the different areas of life that matter most to the UK public.

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Datasets related to Well-being

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Publications related to Well-being

Statistical bulletins

  • Personal well-being in the UK: April 2018 to March 2019

    Estimates of life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety at the UK, country, regional, county and local authority level.

  • Economic well-being, UK: April to June 2018

    Presents a rounded and comprehensive basis for assessing changes in economic well-being through indicators that adjust or supplement more traditional measures such as gross domestic product (GDP).

  • UK Environmental Accounts: 2019

    Measuring the contribution of the environment to the economy, the impact of economic activity on the environment, and society's response to environmental issues. Satellite accounts to the main UK National Accounts.

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Articles

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Methodology related to Well-being

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Looking for local statistics?

A handy guide to let you know where to find local statistics.