In Britain, they found those who live merrily, at ease in their country
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) over three years, starting in 2012, conducted a survey of residents of the kingdom to determine which cities and localities are the happiest and which are the unhappiest. Participants, over 300,000, were asked to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10. Then for each area or locality, an average was calculated, and a ranking of the happiest and unhappiest places in the UK was compiled.
The ranking first of all refuted the stereotype (at least in the British Isles) that northerners are unhappier than southerners. It turned out that the happiest Britons live in the north of the kingdom – in Scotland. The Scots turned out to be significantly happier than the English and the Welsh. Four of the five happiest places in the United Kingdom are in Scotland. Moreover, three of them are islands.
And the happiest place in the kingdom is recognized as the Outer Hebrides, part of the Hebrides archipelago located in northwestern Scotland. Its residents rated their happiness at an average of 8.08. Next are the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland (8.05); Highland, the largest of the 32 Scottish council areas (7.82); and the Shetland Islands, an archipelago in northeastern Scotland. Closing the top five happiest places in the UK is Cheshire, in northwestern England.
The saddest five in the British kingdom are exclusively English cities. Those who suffer most from spleen are in the homeland of the Beatles – Liverpool (6.96). Then come Wolverhampton (6.99), Manchester (7.05), Corby and Bradford (7.06). Interestingly, all of them are industrial cities with relatively high per capita income. Truly, happiness is not in money.
As for age groups, the unhappiest in the British Isles turned out to be middle-aged people. How to explain this? A midlife crisis and dashed hopes? Because representatives of this age group have to look after too many people – children, parents, subordinates (if any)? As Novye Izvestia notes, British scientists have no convincing answer to this question. Nor is there an explanation for why the happiest turned out to be, oddly enough, British pensioners. Even those over 90 are happier than both middle-aged people and young people.