The latest wellbeing figures have just been published by the Office for National Statistics and they show regional differences [1].
To derive estimates of life satisfaction, ONS surveyed people and respondents were asked “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Where 0 is ‘not at all satisfied’ and 10 is ‘completely”’. Clearly there are more very satisfied people in Northern Ireland compared to London. Our offices is based in the South West so perhaps that is why the region ranks fairly high compared to other regions!
There is no analysis of the factors that influence the different levels, so everything will be up for speculation. But bear in mind that there is some lag between the data collection and publication. For example, this data set refers to October to December in 2025.
What next?
Regardless of regional comparison, it is clear we all have a long way to go before everyone in the UK can report 10 out of 10 for life satisfaction. Although not specifically explored in this dataset, environmental protection must remain key. We protect our environment so that our environment can continue to provide us all with our basic needs such as food, clean air, clean water and sustainable shelters. Beyond environmental protection, here are some thoughts:
Governmental level:
- focus specifically on wellbeing of our population and populations of countries that we trade with
- continue to measure wellbeing and assess impacts of national policies on those measures
- fund research to explore specifically what interventions result in better measured wellbeing for populations
- take note that research shows that governments that preside over high wellbeing levels tend to get re-elected [2]
Organisation level:
- aim specifically for maximising wellbeing of staff and customers
- ensure the principle aim of products and services is to maximise wellbeing of customers
- carry out surveys of staff and customers to check services are achieving those aims
- adjust services and/or policies such that better wellbeing is achieved for staff and customers
- ensure that procured products and services are responsibly sourced and ensure that wellbeing of suppliers’ employees is part of that definition of responsible sourcing
Individual level:
- The NHS offers “five-a-day” advice on looking after mental wellbeing [3]. In short, the advice is:
- Connect with other people (preferably in person rather than via technology)
- Be physically active
- Learn new skills
- Give to others
- Pay attention to the present moment
- Buy “Happiness by Numbers” [3]
If you would like to discuss how your organisation can make environmental improvements, and therefore contribute to your region’s wellbeing, then please be in touch: https://shiftenvironment.co.uk/contact/