A UK survey shows Greater Manchester is one of the most widely divided areas in Britain in terms of personal well-being in its various cities, towns and boroughs but Stockport has come out on top – again!
Happiness levels across Greater Manchester are dramatically split between the north and south of the region, according to new government figures from the Office for National Statistics as it releases its second annual well-being survey which measures the emotional health of residents in each council area.
People in northern areas such as Rochdale and Salford are among the most dissatisfied in the country, while their southern counterparts in Stockport and Trafford are near the top of national league tables.
For a less stressful and more worthwhile, happy life – move
to Stockport!
The survey, which polled more than 8,500 people in Greater
Manchester between April 2012 and March 2013, asked
residents to rate their life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety
and feeling that life was worthwhile between 0 and 10.
This year’s results represented good news for the region
overall – with improvements in all four categories.
Across the whole of Greater Manchester, life satisfaction
saw the biggest growth from 7.26 (out of 10) to 7.32 from
2011/12 to 2012/13.
Feelings of life being worthwhile increased from 7.54 to
7.60 and happiness grew from 7.13 to 7.18. Anxiety levels
fell from 3.30 to 3.09.
Rochdale residents were the second least satisfied with life
in England with nearly one in 10 residents (9.5 per cent)
rating their satisfaction as four out of 10 below – only
Knowsley, Merseyside (10.1 per cent) fared worse.
Meanwhile, just 15 miles away, Stockport had the fewest people in England rating themselves as very dissatisfied, with less than one in 25 (3.9 per cent) selecting the lowest category.
At the other end of the scale, 80 per cent of Stockport residents measured their satisfaction as 7 or above compared to 68 per cent in Rochdale.
In terms of overall happiness, Salford was one of just 11 boroughs outside London to record an average score of less than seven out of 10.
More than a third (34.6 per cent) of Salfordians rated their happiness as six or below, compared to 24.9 per cent in Stockport and 27.9 per cent in Trafford.
In contrast, 72.1 per cent of Trafford residents said their happiness levels were seven out of 10 or above – just 65.4 per cent of people in Salford and 67.6 per cent in Oldham said the same.
Levels of anxiety were also higher in the north of the region, with one in four respondents in Bury saying they had high anxiety levels – the 10th highest in the UK outside London.
Stockport had the lowest stress levels, with 17.6 per cent classing themselves as highly anxious.
Manchester was bottom of the regional table for people feeling their lives are worthwhile – with 26.8 per cent saying rating their sense of purpose as six out of 10 or below. This compares with just 16.1 per cent in Stockport.
Combining the four categories, Manchester is at the bottom of the region – and the city’s total score also puts it third bottom of the UK’s major cities outside London.
The ONS stressed that the relationship between personal wellbeing and local circumstances is complex and the reasons why different areas of the UK have different levels of personal wellbeing is ‘not yet fully understood’.
The research body has pledged to publish further analysis into regional variations in personal wellbeing later this year.
The well-being survey was introduced by the government in November 2010, with David Cameron saying he wanted to measure the progress of the country in a way that recognises there is ‘more to life than money’.
Source: MEN media & Stockport Express