Mansfield has been named one of Britain's most "miserable" places to live. The market town in north Nottinghamshire ranked seventh lowest of UK local authorities in terms of "happiness" in the most recent personal wellbeing survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The annual study asked people across the UK to rate how happy they felt yesterday (Dec 12) out of 10. Respondents also gave a rating for their overall life satisfaction, how worthwhile they feel, and how anxious they felt yesterday, as reported by the Mirror.
Mansfield - located 15 miles north of Nottingham, with a proud history of coal mining and textiles industries - had an average happiness rating of seven. This was some way below the average across the UK of 7.45, and was the lowest happiness score recorded for area since 2011/12.
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The latest data measures personal wellbeing for the 12 months from April 2021 to March this year. The poll was carried out at different times throughout the year and the scores were then collated to create an average for each area.
ONS says average ratings for the UK improved across all four indicators compared with the previous 12 months, but are still below pre-Covid pandemic levels. However, for Mansfield, all four personal wellbeing measures scores actually worsened in the year ending March 2022 compared with 2020-21.
Mansfield residents had an average life satisfaction rating of 7.2, compared with 7.54 for the UK. The 'worthwhile' score was 7.6 - slightly below the UK average of 7.77 - while the 'anxiety' rating was 3.1 was about on par with the country as a whole.
10 lowest ranked UK local authorities for 'happiness' (2021-22)
1. Colchester
2. Redditch
3. Norwich
4. Tunbridge Wells
5. Lambeth
6. Mid Sussex
7. Mansfield
8. Craven
9. Glasgow City
10. Epsom and Ewell
(Source: ONS personal well-being in the UK survey)
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