Rates of personal wellbeing in the UK are lower than pre-pandemic levels for the year up to March 2023, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
At the start of the pandemic, ratings declined, followed by an improvement 2022.
But since then average ratings for all measures of personal wellbeing have declined and still remain below pre-pandemic levels.
This was true across all UK countries, as average ratings of personal wellbeing appeared to decline between March 2022 and March 2023, but the changes were only statistically significant in England.
Most regions saw a decline in average life satisfaction ratings, with the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, and the East of England all seeing statistically significant declines.
Adults with very bad self-rated health reported the highest proportion of poor wellbeing across all measures.
More than half (57.4%) reported high levels of anxiety and more than four in 10 (46.5%) adults reported low levels of happiness compared with those with very good health (14.8% and 3.8%, respectively).
Meanwhile, women reported higher levels of anxiety than men – over a quarter (26.6%) of women, compared with one in five men (20.0%).
The latest figures showed that average ratings for life satisfaction for the year up to March 2023 were down to 7.45 out of 10 compared to 7.54 in the previous year.
Other areas also declined slightly, with a score of 7.73 for feeling that things done in life were worthwhile compared to 7.77 in the previous year.
Happiness was also slightly down, at 7.39 compared to 7.45 in 2022.
And anxiety slightly increased to 3.23 from 3.12 in the previous year.
But the numbers were higher when viewed over a longer period.
For the entire year 8.9% reported low levels of happiness compared to 8.5% in the previous year.
And for anxiety, 23.4% reported high levels for the year, compared to 22.5% in the previous year.
