Spotlight

Quality of life in the UK: November 2022
What's in the bulletin?
- This release provides an update on 10 of the 44 indicators across 10 domains of national well-being, using the latest data available as of October 2022.
- The percentage of adults reporting very high levels of life satisfaction, feeling things they do in life are worthwhile, and very low levels of anxiety remained similar between the latest quarter (Quarter 2, Apr to June 2022) and the previous quarter (Quarter 1, Jan to Mar 2022), while a greater percentage of adults (32.28%) reported very high levels of happiness in the latest quarter compared with the previous quarter (30.47%).
- While average personal well-being scores in the UK remained similar for all adults between the latest quarter (Quarter 2, Apr to June 2022) and the previous quarter (Quarter 1, Jan to Mar 2022), women reported higher mean anxiety scores than men (3.41 and 2.95 out of 10, respectively), and adults aged between 16 and 19 years reported the highest mean anxiety score (3.69 out of 10) compared with those aged between 80 and 84 years (2.72 out of 10).

Individual and community well-being, Great Britain: October 2022
What's in the bulletin?
- Adults in Great Britain mentioned family members and their welfare (45.5%) and physical or mental health (45.0%) most often as factors important for their individual well-being.
- The percentage of adults mentioning physical or mental health increased with age, while the percentage mentioning friends or a community and relationships or social interactions lowered.
- Those reporting low personal well-being were, on average, less likely to view health as important for their individual well-being (39.5%, compared with 48.9% of those not reporting low personal well-being); this may be as those aged 16 to 29 years and 30 to 49 years, who are less likely to prioritise health, made the majority of those reporting low well-being.
Measures of National Well-being Dashboard: Quality of Life in the UK
Bringing together the latest national well-being data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other sources to give an overview of how the UK is doing across the 10 areas of life that the UK public told us matter most.
Datasets related to Well-being
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Coronavirus and loneliness
Analysis of loneliness in Great Britain during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
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Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain – indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).
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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.
Publications related to Well-being
Statistical bulletins
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Personal well-being in the UK: April 2021 to March 2022
Estimates of life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety at the UK, country, regional, county, local and unitary authority level.
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Coronavirus and loneliness, Great Britain: 3 April to 3 May 2020
Analysis of loneliness in Great Britain during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
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Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020
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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Personal and economic well-being in Great Britain: May 2021
Estimates from multiple sources for personal and economic well-being to understand the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on households in Great Britain from March 2020 to April 2021.
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Social capital in the UK: April 2020 to March 2021
How the UK fared in the four domains of social capital - personal relationships, social network support, civic engagement, and trust and cooperative norms - during April 2020 to March 2021. Sub-population breakdowns by sex, age, ethnicity, disability status, religious status, National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC), urban and rural area, and ITL1 regions are included for the first time in the accompanying data tables.
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Disability, well-being and loneliness, UK: 2019
Personal well-being (UK) and loneliness (England) outcomes for disabled adults, with analysis by age, sex, impairment type, impairment severity and country.
Articles
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Subnational indicators explorer
Use our interactive tool to find out more about your local authority.
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Are young people detached from their neighbourhoods?
Born in the digital age, young people are thought to be disconnected from their local area. Take our quiz to see how this stacks up in reality.
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Coronavirus and anxiety, Great Britain
The number of people reporting high levels of anxiety has sharply elevated during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This article will provide insights into which socio-demographic and economic factors were most associated with high levels of anxiety during the first weeks of lockdown.
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Exploring loneliness in children, Great Britain
Analysis of children's (aged 10 to 15 years) reporting of loneliness and perception of their circumstances from The Children’s Society Household Survey.
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Coronavirus and social relationships and support for vulnerable groups
A summary of social relationships and social support for vulnerable groups, including older adults and those with a self-defined disability or who are Equality Act Disabled.
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Overview of human capital estimates in the UK
National estimates of human capital stock in the UK for years between 2004 and 2020. Includes full and employed human capital estimates for each year.
Methodology related to Well-being
- Optimism and personal well-being: technical report
- Personal well-being frequently asked questions
- Technical report: logistic regression and latent class analysis of loneliness using the Community Life Survey August 2016 to March 2017
- Personal well-being user guidance
- Translation and cognitive testing of personal well-being questions into Sylheti and Urdu
- Personal well-being quarterly estimates technical report
Looking for local statistics?
A handy guide to let you know where to find local statistics.