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.

Spotlight

Personal well-being in the UK, quarterly: April 2011 to June 2021

What's in the bulletin?

  • Personal well-being in the UK during the first and second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is among the lowest levels since we started collecting data in 2011; by the end of the second wave in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021, ratings for feeling that things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety recovered to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2019.
  • At the start of the second wave, Quarter 4 2020, average ratings for happiness at the UK level fell to among the lowest scores in a decade (7.23 out of 10); anxiety rose to 3.43 out of 10, matching the highest scores recorded at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Quarter 2 2020.
  • In Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2021, anxiety fell by 0.20 points to 3.23 at the UK level; the decrease in anxiety was notable for people aged between 50 to 59 and 65 to 74 years, perhaps indicating a sense of optimism as vaccines continued to roll out.
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Personal and economic well-being in Great Britain: May 2021

What's in the bulletin?

  • Those groups that were financially impacted at the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic were still worse off up to mid-April 2021; such as the self-employed, who were three times as likely to report reduced income and twice as likely to use savings to cover living costs compared with employees.
  • Those in the lowest income bracket (up to £10,000 per annum) continued to be more likely to report negative impacts to personal well-being in comparison with higher brackets; such as the coronavirus pandemic making their mental health worse (18%) and feeling stressed or anxious (32%).
  • Those in the highest income brackets (£40,000 a year or more) continued to be more likely to report that the coronavirus pandemic was negatively impacting their working life, and were six times as likely to report the pandemic was having a strain on their working relationships; those employed were over twice as likely to find working from home difficult than those in the lowest income bracket.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights

A live roundup of the latest data and trends about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the ONS and other sources.

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Datasets related to Well-being

  • Young people's well-being measures

    Contains all the current domains and measures of national well-being for young people. As well as providing the latest data for each measure, where available a time series of data are also presented along with useful links to data sources and other websites which may be of interest.

  • Coronavirus and anxiety estimates

    Estimates for loneliness, sex, marital status, feeling safe in own home, work affected by coronavirus and disability split by anxiety over time.

  • Coronavirus and anxiety regression estimates

    Regression tables for the coronavirus and anxiety release, finding the factors significantly associated with high anxiety, loneliness and feeling safe in own home.

  • Coronavirus and loneliness

    Analysis of loneliness in Great Britain during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.

  • Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain

    Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain.

  • Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown

    Experimental results of the pilot Office for National Statistics (ONS) online time-use study (collected 28 March to 26 April 2020 across Great Britain) compared with the 2014 to 2015 UK time-use study.

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Publications related to Well-being

Statistical bulletins

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Articles

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Methodology related to Well-being

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