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Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world

68a. Overall life satisfaction

Percentage of people reporting overall life satisfaction ratings, on a scale from 0 to 10, 2007 to 2009

68a

Contextual measure

  • In 2009, when people were asked to rate their satisfaction with their lives, by using a scale from 0 – 10 (with 0 meaning very dissatisfied and 10 very satisfied), the average overall life satisfaction rating for England was 7.4 out of 10.  This is very close to the value of 7.5 in 2008 and 7.3 in 2007. The 2007 European Social Survey used the same question, gave an average for Great Britain of around 7 (not shown). 
  • Twenty-nine per cent of people rated their overall life satisfaction as 9 or 10 out of 10 in 2009, compared with 30 per cent in 2008 and 25 per cent in 2007.
  • Research suggests that average overall life satisfaction changes little over time in developed countries.  However at present there is no clear consensus about why this is the case.

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Updated: 30 July 2009