Well-being

Published

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1. Main facts and figures

  • ​​in 2018, when people in the UK were asked how anxious they felt yesterday, the average score was 2.85 out of 10 (where 10 is 'completely anxious’)
  • the average score for happiness was 7.54 out of 10 (where 10 is 'completely happy')
  • the average score for life satisfaction was 7.70 out of 10 (where 10 is ‘completely satisfied’)
  • the average score for feeling worthwhile were was 7.88 out of 10 (where 10 is 'completely worthwhile')
  • average anxiety scores ranged from 2.62 for the Bangladeshi ethnic group, to 3.46 for the Arab ethnic group
  • average happiness scores ranged from 7.18 for the Arab ethnic group, to 7.77 for the Asian ‘other’ group
  • average life satisfaction scores ranged from 7.32 for the black ethnic group, to 7.79 for the Indian ethnic group
  • average scores for feeling worthwhile ranged from 7.64 for the Chinese ethnic group, to 7.97 for the Arab ethnic group

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures how people felt yesterday in relation to:

  • anxiety
  • happiness

The data also measures how people felt generally in relation to:

  • life satisfaction
  • feeling the things they do in life are worthwhile

People responded on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is ‘not at all’, and 10 is ‘completely’.

Average scores are rounded to 2 decimal places. Comparisons are based on unrounded data.

Not included in the data

Data is not shown if it is based on fewer than 50 respondents. This is to protect people’s confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable generalisations.

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:

In the data file

See Download the data for:

  • the percentage of pupils in each threshold for anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction and how worthwhile they felt the things they did in life were
  • the average scores for the wellbeing measures of anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction and how worthwhile they felt the things they did in life
  • data from 2012 to 2018
  • confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out more about how we use confidence intervals to determine how reliable estimates are

3. By ethnicity (anxiety)

Average anxiety score, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Score
All 2.85
Bangladeshi 2.62
Chinese 3.00
Indian 2.84
Pakistani 2.83
Asian other 2.68
Black 2.75
Mixed 3.07
White 2.85
White Gypsy / Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Arab 3.46
Other 3.02

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (anxiety)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (anxiety)’ (CSV)

4. By ethnicity (happiness)

Average happiness score, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Score
All 7.54
Bangladeshi 7.64
Chinese 7.53
Indian 7.67
Pakistani 7.57
Asian other 7.77
Black 7.52
Mixed 7.32
White 7.54
White Gypsy / Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Arab 7.18
Other 7.56

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (happiness)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (happiness)’ (CSV)

5. By ethnicity (life satisfaction)

Average life satisfaction score, by ethnicity
Ethnicity score
All 7.70
Bangladeshi 7.53
Chinese 7.60
Indian 7.79
Pakistani 7.67
Asian other 7.78
Black 7.32
Mixed 7.35
White 7.72
White Gypsy / Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Arab 7.61
Other 7.54

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (life satisfaction)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (life satisfaction)’ (CSV)

6. By ethnicity (feeling things are worthwhile)

Average score for how worthwhile people felt the things they did in their life were by ethnicity
Ethnicity score
All 7.88
Bangladeshi 7.71
Chinese 7.64
Indian 7.92
Pakistani 7.81
Asian other 7.91
Black 7.77
Mixed 7.65
White 7.89
White Gypsy / Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Arab 7.97
Other 7.80

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (feeling things are worthwhile)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (feeling things are worthwhile)’ (CSV)

7. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Office for National Statistics collects well-being data to:

  • monitor national well-being
  • support government policy making
  • give individuals data they can use to make informed decisions
  • make comparisons between the UK and other countries

8. Download the data

Life Satisfaction data - Spreadsheet (csv) 26 KB

This file contains the following:measure, year, ethnicity, sex, threshold, mean, value, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound), sample size

Anxiety data - Spreadsheet (csv) 29 KB

This file contains the following: measure, year, ethnicity, sex, threshold, mean, value, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound), sample size

Happiness data - Spreadsheet (csv) 23 KB

This file contains the following: measure, year, ethnicity, sex, threshold, mean, value, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound), sample size

Worthwhile data - Spreadsheet (csv) 23 KB

This file contains the following:measure, year, ethnicity, sex, threshold, mean, value, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound), sample size