Leeds’ happiness score drops for the first time in 6 years - here’s how it compares to other Yorkshire towns and cities
The overall ‘happiness score’ of residents in Leeds has dropped for the first time since 2013, according to new data from a government survey.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published this year’s ‘Personal well-being in the UK’ dataset for the period between April 2018 and March this year.
The Annual Population Survey asked approximately 150,000 people to give scores between 0 and 10 for aspects of life like anxiety and happiness.
In the 2013/14 survey, Leeds residents gave an average score of 7.26 out of 10 for their happiness levels - a figure that rose incrementally every year to reach a peak of 7.61 in 2017/18.
In this year’s survey, however, that score has dropped for the first time to 7.45 out of 10.
This has seen Leeds drop from the fifth happiest area in Yorkshire in 2018 to the 14th happiest out of the 20 Yorkshire areas included in the survey.
In first place for happiness this year is the district of Hambleton, with its average score of 8.19, trumping the national average of 7.56.
Scarborough, Harrogate, Sheffield and Wakefield also came ahead of Leeds on happiness scores for 2019.
There were several towns and districts where residents were recorded as unhappier than Leeds however, including York, Doncaster and Hull.
The area with the lowest score for happiness in Yorkshire was Richmondshire, with an average score of 7.26 out of 10.
To see the full list of the happiest and unhappiest areas in Yorkshire, click this link, or see the full results of the Personal Wellbeing Survey on the ONS website.