Happy days: Brits report record levels of life satisfaction – so says ONS life satisfaction survey data

Forget worries of Brexit cliff edges and the world going to war on a Trump tweet – we’re actually a pretty happy bunch.

Turn that frown upside down because happiness levels have ticked up slightly across the UK, according to official figures on the nation’s wellbeing.

And anxiety levels remain the same, based on the latest data for the year ending March from the Office for National Statisitcs (ONS), indicating that satisfaction with life overall is on the rise amid a year that many would describe as a total dumpster fire.

Read more: Meet your new Chief Happiness Officer

“Today’s figures may surprise some, showing a small increase in both happiness and life satisfaction during a period that has seen political change and uncertainty,” said the ONS’s Matthew Steel.

So what’s behind this brushing off of the world’s political turmoil? Money, it turns out, is the most likely answer.

“It’s worth noting that employment rates rose during the period covered by this report, and other ONS analysis showed people perceiving an improvement in their own financial situations and in the overall economy,” said Steel.

“These are factors we believe may account for some people’s increased sense of personal well-being.”

(Click or tap the image below to zoom in)

It’s also worth noting that more people are reporting their levels of happiness as “very high”, a change that the ONS said was statistically significant.

The number of people classing their happiness as low remained unchanged, and the beancounters conclude it indicates that “increases in mean life satisfaction are being driven by more people reporting the highest levels of well-being, rather than a decrease in those reporting the lowest levels of well-being”.

(Click or tap the image below to zoom in)