Govt. survey reveals mental wellbeing despite recession

Govt. survey reveals mental wellbeing despite recession

By Rachel O’Rourke

A new survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that, despite facing the worst recession in decades, Britons are largely emotionally untouched, feeling mental wellbeing and are today finding happiness in personal relationships.

Most of the 4,200 Britons surveyed reported being satisfied in life. People were most happy in their relationships with others, holding the highest mean score of 8.3 out of 10.

ONS found that people rated their life satisfaction at 7.4 out of 10 and when asked whether things they did in life were worthwhile, people gave a score of 7.6 on average.

Of those surveyed, concerns about work and pinched finances were outweighed by wellbeing gained from children, the area they lived in and friendships.

When asked, "how anxious did you feel yesterday?", more than a quarter rated five out of ten, with ten being "completely anxious."

The survey, which was released shortly after UK economists predicted that the economic downturn will continue for some time yet, the government report offers the impression that people remain largely emotionally untouched by the financial crisis.

Lord Layard, the LSE economics professor, told The Guardian that it was likely that scores would fall as the double-dip recession really set-in. He said: "We know from other European countries that this is sensitive to business cycles and in recessions life satisfaction drops."

The research was conducted between April and August 2011 as part of the Prime Minister's £2m initiative to get a better measure of how the country is doing emotionally.

This month the ONS will launch a three month consultation on indicators for measuring national well-being. The consultation is the latest stage in the ONS' National Wellbeing Programme.

Mental Healthy, in conjunction with Uncovered Magazine, conducted its own survey into the state of the nation’s mental wellbeing. To read Mental Healthy's wellbeing survey results click here.

ONS launches a three month consultation on proposed domains and headline indicators for measuring national well-being. The consultation is the latest stage in ONS’s National Well-being programme. 

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