[1]
Background
On the International Day of Happiness each year the United Nation’s (UN) annually release the updated World Happiness Report, which provides insights into global wellbeing and regional happiness rankings [2]. But how is happiness linked to sustainability and why should we be talking about it?
People are an integral part of sustainable development; being a necessity for all three pillars of sustainability: environment, economic and social. The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a key measure of our progress to a more sustainable future, with human wellbeing at the forefront. It has been found that sustainable development makes people happier but should be integrated with social sustainability [3].
Hopefully these UK wellbeing statistics below will prompt industry, government and other organisations to consider their impact on wellbeing and improve their social sustainability work.
UK statistics
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) surveyors asked ~20,000 individuals in the UK “overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Where 0 is ‘not at all happy’ and 10 is ‘completely happy'” [4]. The latest data covering October-December 2024 averaged a score of 7.4 out of 10 and for their overall life satisfaction, a score of 7.5 out of 10. Only 32% of people reported having very high levels of happiness (score 9 or 10), while 8.5% of people reported very low levels of happiness (score 0 to 4). At first glance these statistics look positive but there is much room for improvement.
The statistics are also provided for demographic characteristics including age, sex, country and region but the ONS have made no attempt to explain why there are differences, which may be a topic for further exploration. No major differences were found between sex, but there were noticeable differences in happiness levels between age groups and regions across the UK, as shown in the graphs below:
Figure 1. The UK percentage (%) of people with a very high level of happiness (score 9 or 10 out of 10).
Figure 2. The UK percentage (%) of people with a very high level of happiness (score 9 or 10 out of 10).
International comparison
Comparing statistics with other nations may offer insights into possible changes that could provide a happier future. How does the UK compare to the rest of the world? Based on the latest data released in 2025, the UK are ranked in 23rd place out of 147 countries, as seen below [5]:
Figure 3. Country happiness rankings by life evaluations (Gallup World Poll (2022-2024).
This year was the first time that none of the large industrial powers ranked in the top 20. The Western industrial countries are less happy now than they were between 2005-2010, but why? It is quite well known that Scandinavian countries tend to score highly on wellbeing, which is reflected in this dataset. So, should we be taking tips from other countries?
Given the events in the Middle East, it may be surprising to see Israel so high up in the chart, but this may be due to the time lag. This report does attempt to explain differences via various regression analyses, including country level factors such as: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy at birth, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption.
What next?
IEMA’s [6] Social Sustainability Steering Group is compiling a list of policy asks to improve social sustainability in the UK and hopefully any successes will be reflected in future ONS data releases.
In the meantime, organisations and individuals can take actions now:
- Governmental level – consider, at policy level, the factors highlighted in the World Happiness Report and implement actions to make improvements.
- Organisational level – download IEMA’s social sustainability 101 guides for inspiration to improve the wellbeing of staff and people in your supply chain [7].
- Individual level – the World Happiness Report does have various regressions for individual factors. In addition, the UK’s NHS has a “five-a-day” guide for individual wellbeing which is very easy to implement [8]
[1] Photo from stock images on Microsoft Word
[2] International Day of Happiness | United Nations
[3] Sustainability makes people happier, research finds | The World Happiness Report
[4] Quarterly personal well-being estimates – non-seasonally adjusted – Office for National Statistics
[5] Home | The World Happiness Report
[6] Social Sustainability – This article is adapted from an original we wrote for IEMA
[7] Putting the ‘S’ in ESG – IEMA’s Social Sustainability 101
[8] 5 steps to mental wellbeing – NHS