UK enjoyed post lockdown wellbeing surge

The UK enjoyed a huge leap in happiness last year when pandemic restrictions were finally eased, according to a new official analysis.

Levels of personal well-being still remained below levels before the pandemic in 2019, the Office for National Statistics reported yesterday.

The ONS said measures of well-being improved across all categories in the year ending in March 2022 – although findings for Scotland and Northern Ireland were not conclusive.

Its data reflects the findings of surveys through the year so does not reflect the full impact of the invasion of Ukraine in February. It was also collected before energy prices began to rise.

The bounceback in wellbeing was the largest increase in one year since it began monitoring the issue, the ONS said. It followed the largest decline in 2020 following the onset of the pandemic. The surveys were first undertaken in 2012 when measures of happiness were significantly better than in the last year.

Its surveys measure anxiety levels, life satisfaction and happiness along with measures such as that “things in life are worthwhile”. This measure only improved in a statistically significant way in England.

In Scotland, the measured improvement in life satisfaction was not significant, the ONS reported.

Analysis by district showed the happiest districts to be High Peak in Derbyshire and West Devon.

An ONS spokesperson said: “Average ratings for anxiety, life satisfaction and happiness showed the largest year-on-year improvements since we started measuring well-being; this follows the biggest deterioration in all well-being scores in the year ending March 2021 during the pandemic.”

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