Britain’s getting happier

Despite Brexit turmoil, we’ve climbed to new heights in global contentment table

WITH all the uncertainty and gnashing of teeth over Brexit, you might expect Britain to be down in the dumps.

But we are actually rising in the United Nations’ world table of happiness.

The UK is in 15th place – up from 19th last year – as Germany trails in 17th and France languishes in 24th. The US is 19th, while Ireland has slipped from 14th to 16th in the annual survey of happiness which covers 156 nations.

The happiest country for the second year running is Finland, ahead of Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands.

New Zealand (8th) and Canada (9th) are the only non-European nations in the top ten.

The scores are based on individuals’ assessments of their lives over a two-year period.

Dr Mark Williamson, of UK charity Action For Happiness, welcomed the findings, saying: ‘Today’s report shows how important happiness is as a measure of social progress. We need to focus more on the things that really matter so we can create a society where everyone has the chance to flourish and no one gets left behind.’

The report comes a day after figures showed record numbers of people in work in the UK with the jobless rate dipping below 4 per cent for the first time since 1975.

Average earnings increased by 3.4 per cent in the year to January. Up to 3,000 survey respondents in each country were asked to rate the status of their lives from zero to ten. South Sudan replaced Burundi as the unhappiest country, closely followed by Afghanistan.

Separate figures were collated by the UN on gross domestic product, life expectancy, social support and freedom, but they did not contribute to the happiness rankings.