Subjective Well-being

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Personal Well-being in Somerset

In September 2018 detailed local results from the 7th year of the government’s Measuring National Well-being programme were published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The programme aims to measure people’s ongoing quality of life, and complement existing national indicators such as economic performance.

The personal well-being questions that ONS asks in its household surveys are:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? (‘life Satisfaction’)
• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? (‘worthwhile’)
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? (‘happiness’)
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? (‘anxiety’)

All are answered using a 0 to 10 scale where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’ (so, with the exception of the 'anxiety' question, a high score represents a high level of well-being). Around 160,000 adults are surveyed nationally, of which around 700 are Somerset residents.

Since 2011/12 (when data was first produced) Somerset has seen a general improving trend in levels of well-being (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Personal Well-being in Somerset, 2011/12 to 2017/18

Due to a limited sample size, detailed breakdowns of scores are not available for all questions, however, the results indicate, for example, that around 4 in 10 adults in Somerset rate their ‘happiness’ very highly (a score of 9 to 10) while around 1 in 13 adults (7%) rate their happiness very lowly (a score of 0 to 4).

Comparisons with other areas

Rural areas tend to have higher levels of subjective well-being than urban areas, with Somerset consistently reporting higher levels of well-being than national averages.

Moreover, in comparison to Somerset's statistical neighbours (i.e., areas with similar population demographics), the county fares particularly well (see Table 1, below)

 Table 1: Comparison of Personal Well-being in Somerset with statistical neighbours*, 2017/18

*Statistical neighbours for the purposes of this table are: Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Sussex

District level data

Within Somerset, Taunton Deane ranked best in 2017/18 in respect of all four measures of subjective well-being. See Figure 2, below. Note that differences are not statistically significant. 

Figure 2: Personal Well-being by Somerset District, 2017/18

Age Group comparisons

National data from the 3-year period April 2012 to March 2015 reveal notable differences between age groups:-

• People aged 90 and over reported the lowest average feelings that activities they do in life are worthwhile.
• As people pass 75 years old they report decreasing levels of happiness, life satisfaction, and a sense what they do in life is worthwhile.
• But, those in the oldest age groups reported the lowest levels of anxiety, compared with younger age groups, although these levels remained unchanged beyond retirement age.
• People aged 90 and over still reported higher life satisfaction and happiness than those in their middle years.

Figure 3: Life Satisfaction and Anxiety scores by Age Group, UK, 2012/13 to 2014/15

Source: ONS

Nationwide analysis suggests that areas with higher personal well-being broadly correlate with those of low unemployment and higher life expectancy. On a personal level, separate analysis has found that the most important factor associated with people’s self-reported well-being is their health, followed by their work situation and then their relationship status.