In the Office for National Statistics’ most recent survey into Coronavirus and contributors to subnational well-being (January to March 2021) the following was revealed:
Over the past year, average happiness for England and Wales was lower than the pre-pandemic (February 2020) average of 7.2; London recorded lower average happiness than rural areas or other urban areas, dropping to a low of 6.5 in early 2021.
Reported loneliness was found to have the strongest association to happiness of any other factor considered.
Adults in urban areas (including London) who had worked from home over the last seven days were more likely to report lower levels of happiness than those who had not worked from home.
When compared with the baseline of respondents aged 75 years or over, all younger adults across all areas had significantly lower levels of happiness; this indicates that people over the age of 75 years are most likely to report the highest level of happiness, especially compared with those aged 35 to 44 years.