Revealed: The happiest and unhappiest places to live in east London
Barking and Dagenham Youth Parade. Picture: Jimmy Lee - Credit: Jimmy Lee
Barking and Dagenham is among the happiest places in the UK, while Hackney ranks among the lowest nationally for life satisfaction, according to new data.
The happiest – and unhappiest – places to live in east London have been revealed by the Office for National Statistics based on a personal wellbeing survey.
The survey asked people how happy they felt the previous day, how satisfied they are with their life and to what extent they feel the things they do in their life are worthwhile.
People aged 16 and older were asked to rate each question out of 10, where zero is “not at all” and 10 is “completely”.
The latest results reveal the average ratings in every UK local authority over the 12 months to March 2021.
We took a look at the data for the east London boroughs Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets to see how they compared.
Here are the findings by borough, ranked from most happy to least:
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1. Barking and Dagenham
Barking and Dagenham was ranked the ninth happiest place in the country - out of 381 local authorities - with a rating of 7.87.
This was its highest score since the survey began 10 years earlier and almost a full mark higher than the 6.91 recorded for 2011/12.
Happiness: 7.87 (+)
Life satisfaction: 7.35 (+)
Worthwhile: 7.84 (+)
Note: “+” indicates an increased rating from the year before; “-” indicates a decrease.
2. Newham
Happiness: 7.5 (-)
Life satisfaction: 7.51 (+)
Worthwhile: 7.76 (+)
3. Havering
Happiness: 7.48 (+)
Life satisfaction: 7.54 (-)
Worthwhile: 7.99 (-)
4. Redbridge
Happiness: 7.21 (-)
Life satisfaction: 7.41 (-)
Worthwhile: 7.66 (-)
5. Tower Hamlets
Happiness: 7.14 (-)
Life satisfaction: 7.13 (-)
Worthwhile: 7.64 (-)
6. Hackney
Of the east London boroughs, Hackney ranked as the least happy with an average of 6.97 - its lowest rating since 2013/14 after dropping two years in a row.
Hackney also had the sixth lowest life satisfaction rating in the UK with 6.94 - its worst score over the 10 years of the survey.
Happiness: 6.97 (-)
Life satisfaction: 6.94 (-)
Worthwhile: 7.6 (+)
