The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)

Dundee least happy place in Scotland and people’s sense of self worth low

data: City at odds with rest of Tayside and Fife where satisfacti­on with life has risen

- Graeme bleTcher gbletcher@thecourier.co.uk

Dundee is the least happy place in Scotland for the second year running and has the lowest number of people satisfied with their lives.

New data from the Office for National Statistics well-being survey has shown the city rooted to the bottom of the table in three of four key analysis measures – life satisfacti­on, how worthwhile people feel, general happiness and anxiety.

Satisfacti­on with life in the city has remained static while it rose across the rest of Tayside and Fife.

Dundee stayed at a rating of 7.43 in 2015/16 compared with the same score the previous year and down from 7.57 in 2011/12.

All other areas improved with the Scottish average also going up from 7.66 and 7.68.

In terms of how worthwhile people feel, Dundee fared the worst in Scotland dropping from 7.52 to 7.49 year on year.

Fife also saw a decrease from 7.81 to 7.76 and Angus dropped from 7.94 to 7.66.

Perth and Kinross feel most worthwhile in Courier Country despite a drop from 7.94 to 7.92.

Along with Falkirk, Dundee was jointly least happy in Scotland scoring 7.19 – albeit an improvemen­t from 7.08 the year before.

Perth and Kinross residents again came out top in the local area on 7.60 although the rating fell from 7.68.

Happiness levels in Fife have steadily shot up from a dismal 7.18 in 2011/12 to 7.39 in both 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Angus saw a year-on-year drop from 7.61 to 7.46.

Anxiety levels were also recorded with Fife seeing an unwelcome increase to top the Courier Country list.

The region went from 2.89 in 2014/15 to 2.92 last year while Dundee also saw a spike from 2.76 to 2.85.

In Perth and Kinross there was a decrease in anxiety levels from 3.04 to 2.81 over the five years and it seems Angus is the least anxious place in Tayside and Fife, going from 2.67 to 2.41 over that time.

Dawn Snape of the Office for National Statistics said: “We have seen personal well-being improving on a UK-wide basis over the past five years.

“But today’s data paints a richer picture, enabling people to explore what’s been happening in their local area.

“This will help individual­s, communitie­s and local authoritie­s to look at well-being locally alongside other more traditiona­l measures of progress.”

Despite having the worst record in Scotland, Dundee did not feature in the least satisfied or least happy top 10 areas in the UK.

However the city did make the British top 10 for residents not feeling worthwhile.

 ??  ?? Dundonians are still in the doldrums.
Dundonians are still in the doldrums.

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