Londoners happier and less stressed than three years ago

Londoners are markedly happier and less stressed than they were three years ago, new figures reveal today.

People living in the capital have consistently suffered higher levels of anxiety and a weaker sense that life is worthwhile than most other regions since David Cameron’s “Happiness Index” alternative measure of national wellbeing was launched in 2011.

But the latest data from the Office for National Statistics points to a bigger bounce in London than the rest of the country in the past year.

All four measures used by Whitehall number crunchers — covering levels of “life satisfaction”, “happiness”, feelings that life is “worthwhile” and “anxiety” — saw jumps in London between 2012/13 and 2013/14.

Only the South-East and the West Midlands saw similar improvements.

Despite the rise, however, Londoners still rank among the most miserable people in the country.

Today’s report does not provide an explanation for the happiness boom, but the period covers the post-Olympic “golden glow” when Londoners were feeling proudest of the 2012 Games. London has also enjoyed the strongest economic recovery of any region since the end of the recession with huge numbers of jobs created, falling unemployment and rising house prices.

In London, 20.64 per cent of people people rated themselves six or above on 1 to 10 anxiety scale, just above the national average of 20 per cent.

The most anxious borough was Hackney with 29.27 per cent and the most chilled was Harrow on 12.63 per cent.

In terms of happiness, 30.39 per cent of Londoners rated themselves nine or ten, below the 32.6 per cent average.

The least happy borough is Brent on 22.31 per cent, while Tower Hamlets was happiest with 39.12 per cent on nine or ten, despite having some of London’s starkest extremes of inequality.