More cash not key to happiness

Average happiness levels have flatlined since 2015 while typical household wealth has continued to rise. Photo / 123RF

Money does not make people happier, official figures for Britain suggest.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has compared happiness and household wealth, showing that people across the United Kingdom are not getting any happier but are becoming more anxious, despite having more disposable income. Since 2012, the average person in the UK has become 36 per cent wealthier — but only 3 per cent happier, according to ONS data.

More recently, average happiness levels have flatlined since 2015 while typical household wealth has continued to rise. The trend is largely down to increased uncertainty over the future, despite a "fairly buoyant" economy and improvements in household wealth, incomes and employment rates.

The ONS report used data from about 160,000 people, who measured their happiness levels on a scale of one to 10, as well as their anxiety levels, and compared them to trends in wealth for the first time.

Between 2012 and 2018, average personal net wealth, which includes pensions and investments, has risen in Britain from £52,400 ($99,225) per person to £71,300. The amount of yearly average disposable income households have also increased by £3000 since 2012.

Over the same period, the proportion of people who said they are "very happy" rose marginally from 32 per cent to 35 per cent.

However, over the past three years, the number of people who said they are "very happy" has flatlined — despite the fact that average personal wealth has increased by nearly £7000 over that period.

Glenn Everett, head of inequalities at the ONS, said of the results: "This may be due to worries about rising debt repayments, which could be driving concerns about their future financial situation."

The data showed the average debt people have, in the form of personal loans and credit card borrowing, has increased from £24,200 in 2015 to £26,800 last year.