Dundonians unhappiest with their lot

PEOPLE IN Dundee have the lowest self-worth of anyone living in Scotland while those living in Angus are among the most laid back in the country, new figures have suggested.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday published the results of surveys it carried out to help gauge levels of personal well-being across the UK.

ONS officials asked 165,000 people to rate how satisfied they were with their lives, how worthwhile they felt their lives were, how happy they felt and how anxious they felt on a scale of zero to 10 with zero being “not at all” and 10 being “completely”.

They found that the highest proportion of people who gave the top scores for life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness live in Northern Ireland.

England had the lowest proportion of people who gave themselves the top scores for happiness and life satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Scotland appears to be the most relaxed country with the highest proportion of people who gave themselves very low anxiety scores.

All five areas with the lowest ratings for anxiousness were in Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway topped the list followed by the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, Clackmannanshire, Aberdeen and Angus.

The areas with the highest levels of anxiousness were all in England and Wales.

People in Reading were, on average, the most anxious, followed by those in Slough, Merthyr Tydfil, Milton Keynes and Brighton and Hove.

However, the survey makes it clear that not all parts of Scotland are as happy as each other.

Although four of the areas where people recorded the highest average ratings for life satisfaction are in Scotland, Dundee had the second-lowest average ratings for self-worth in the entire UK — only Stokeon-Trent was lower.

Glasgow had the third-lowest rating, followed by Newport in Wales and North Ayrshire.

Stoke-on-Trent also had the lowest average ratings for life satisfaction.

While people in Dundee may have the lowest sense of self-worth in Scotland, those in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland had the highest sense of self-worth of anyone in the UK, followed by those living in the Highlands, Clackmannanshire and then Moray.

People living on the islands also had the highest average ratings for happiness and life satisfaction. Perth and Kinross residents had the fifth-highest happiness rating in the UK.

Dawn Snape, head of personal wellbeing at the ONS, said: “It looks like Eilean Siar is the place to be.

“London has the most disposable income but very little life satisfaction and very high anxiety.

“Some of the (areas with high levels of anxiety) are commuter areas to London, so it might be to do with the stress of the job.”

The ONS report stressed that the reasons behind the local variations were “complex and not yet fully understood” but that the factors most associated with personal well-being were health, employment and relationship status.