Do you really know? Why is the UK not as happy as it used to be?
Sep 7, 2025
The UK's happiness levels are dipping, currently ranked 19th globally. Factors such as the pandemic, rising child poverty, and increasing anxiety contribute to this decline. The importance of health and relationships is underscored as crucial for well-being. Meanwhile, Finland continues its reign as the happiest country. The brief discussion raises questions about whether happiness is declining uniformly across the UK.
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How Happiness Is Measured Globally
- The World Happiness Report combines self-rated life evaluations with six objective national indicators like GDP and healthy life expectancy.
- Analysts compare countries to a hypothetical low-baseline country called 'dystopia' to compute contributions to overall scores.
Pandemic's Clear Hit To Well‑Being
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly lowered UK life satisfaction, happiness and raised anxiety according to the ONS data around 2020.
- The drop marked the first deterioration in those measures since 2011 when ONS began tracking them.
Children Face Rising Pressure And Poverty
- Rising child poverty and increased school pressures have driven very low happiness among UK children compared with Europe.
- Fear of failure and academic stress are highlighted as direct contributors to youth unhappiness.