2nd Unhappiest place to live. UK

I often think I was born too late (late ‘70s). One of my favourite programmes is Man About the House; watching one the other day and they’re (3of them) looking for a different flat to rent. The chap at the agency asked what they can afford and they say about £8 pw each, so £24 a week to live in central London! Never mind happy, I’d have been ecstatic!

Things are so much harder now. Even working full time, as a single person it’s pretty much impossible to live anywhere near comfortably. Home ownership is out of the question for many. Jobs are insecure (no real rights until 2 years service) and poorly paid, often with no chance of progression. Waiting lists for medical treatment are never ending, that’s if you can even get to see a GP for a referral.

As pp said, our shit weather doesn’t help. It’s makes everything so expensive as leisure/entertainment has to be indoors. No beach picnics/sea swimming/just going for a pleasant walk as it’s cold and raining so frequently.

Ironically, I think London is one of the best places for cheap/free stuff to do but property makes it out of the reach of most. Public transport there is cheap too, with kids not having to pay until they’re 11 and cheaper bus fares than the rest of the country.

... and there's no shortage of people willing to risk their lives to come here, making me have a hunch that it can't be too bad! They even leave France, which a very pleasant place to visit for our unhappy shores. Mmm I think they got it wrong

I was ready to nod my head in agreement (yes, it sucks here) until I saw the list. Not a soul in the world can convince me that the UK is unhappier than Yemen. But then I wonder if living in countries (even those in conflict) where people are deeply bound by faith, family, a sense of cultural identity, and community does fuel a sense of purpose and hope (even false hope) that just doesn't exist in the UK.
We are a pretty hopeless lot. But then, look at our leaders. They've been so transparently zero-fucks-given about the people (literally an image of Boris Johnson comes into my head as I type this... this is the guy who recklessly thwarted ANY hope of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine because war is 'Big Bizniz' and war is more important than people's lives. Same story. Different conflict.). I feel very disposable as a person in the UK. I have felt increasingly silenced here and I seriously worry about the surreptitious threat to free speech and threat to many of our rights, all under the guise of 'democracy' and 'progress'.
I think, above all, this is a tiny nation, but an incredibly wealthy, first world one... for some. It's fucking hair-tearing stuff to think of how much poverty exists here in the UK and really should not.

I thought Australians loved Australia? Anyway Finland is the happiest I thought?

I can't be bothered to check their methodology but it's flawed I can conclusively say as Yemen is definitely worse than the U.K., Australia or South Africa

Yes, I think this is a very major part of it.

After all, this is the country where they released a book called Crap Towns - featuring the supposed most rubbish places in the UK - and then they had to compile a second book after so many people bitterly complained because their town wasn't in the first one

This too.
FWIW as much as I 'defend' the UK on this thread, I don't think it's great, DH and I are also making plans to leave.
However, I very rationally take issue with the fact that it's the '2nd' worst, when clearly, there is so much worse!
Including my home country, which is actually on the 'top 10' happiest list.

The UK is a great country in many ways but the culture of fighting for scraps is going to kill it off. Nobody wants to put in any effort, everyone wants the sky but someone else to pay for it, pigs with their noses in the trough, just goes on and on.

What people forget is that, in the so-called Scandinavian utopias, everyone pays more tax. Higher earners both pay more and reap equal benefits including subsidised childcare and long mat pay. Here in the UK as a PP mentioned higher earners are supposed to pay twice - once for everyone else, and again for themselves!

I didn't think the Scandinavians were that materialistic. Around here, it's either the lower earners or the very rich footballer wives who have all that.
The rest of us simply don't care.

DH and I are higher earners in the NW, combined household income of 150K. Our friends earn similar. None of us pay particular attention to our appearance, fancy clothes, or new gadgets, simply because we have better things to spend on.

Of course I have a hygienist visit every 6 months and my clothes are presentable, not threadbare. But you make your circle sound like the real housewives of Cheshire....

I didn't think the Scandinavians were that materialistic. Around here, it's either the lower earners or the very rich footballer wives who have all that.
The rest of us simply don't care.

DH and I are higher earners in the NW, combined household income of 150K. Our friends earn similar. None of us pay particular attention to our appearance, fancy clothes, or new gadgets, simply because we have better things to spend on.

Of course I have a hygienist visit every 6 months and my clothes are presentable, not threadbare. But you make your circle sound like the real housewives of Cheshire....

Oh god this so much

Thread after thread where someone asks a question about a holiday/.car/house to be met with reams of responses of 'dont you know theres people eating their own cats and living in a box in a shed, how dare you be so insensitive'

Its ridiculous.

Not really...take the current issue of Govt funding preschool childcare, now it's in the news how many private equity firms and venture capitalists have their nose in that trough.

I wouldn't equate the UK to a warzone but I do think we have an awful culture of everything having to be for profit and dividends. No nice free green spaces for a lot of people because somebody can't make money off it.

The fact that you think this is incredibly British, imho!

Not mocking you for it, at all -- I know multiple Brits, including some friends, who feel this way. I must say that I find it easier to live in places where the culture is warmer (not just the temperature), sociable, and people like being part of a community.

Someone should tell the economic migrants who pay a fortune and risk their lives getting here illegally in unsafe boats .

My children are british and I'm not leaving, but if I were single or childless, I probably would. Visiting my home country, I noticed immediately how scruffy I felt because I had so much less disposible income compared to my friends (mostly friends I made at work, so similar sectors/roles/seniority). At the time, I was being paid about 45k compared to friends were on ~150k for the same jobs.

It was noticeable in unimportant (to me) things like everyone had the newest phones and gadgets, and more important (to my vanity) stuff like their clothes, hair, skin and teeth reflected the fact that they had money to spare and I didn't.

I have a Danish friend who felt the same way -- that she noticed how scruffy she became compared to her friends at home.

I’ve lived in countries much poorer/violent yet much happier than the UK. I have various theories as far to why this is so.

The most anodyne - I don’t think the weather helps. There are wetter places, colder places, greyer/darker places - but there’s something unique about the combination here. If our weather were a person it would be one of those slightly repulsive, drippy types who always has or is about to get a snivelling cold and carries a crumpled, damp hanky up their sleeve.

My guess is this list is flawed. Maybe those who were making it, had an unconscious bias and chose areas to survey where people are more likely to report unhappy.

Seems I'm the only one who read the report. Children in English-speaking countries are exposed to social media at a much younger age and report worse mental health in adulthood, especially women. Youth (18-24) are the unhappiest demographic. Globally, 10% of 18-23 years report not feeling close to many family members, 23% for Anglosphere 18-24 year olds. Depression associated with increased UPF intake.

Well, hello! 😁

I've definitely noticed the passivity getting bigger in the last 10-15 years.

This is a big issue. Everything is someone else’s fault. Someone else’s problem to fix. And if you try to suggest a practical solution yourself - you’re jumped on. People prefer to moan rather than ‘do’.

And I’m not talking about those in dire strait. I’m talking about people perfectly capable of taking action to make something better and fix a simple problem in their immediate community but just…don’t.

It is a perpetual race to the bottom of misery levels in England. It’s like the misery Olympics. Nobody can say anything without someone else jumping in with how they have it worse. Nobody ever takes any personal responsibility for their decisions, choices and actions. It’s always someone or something else’s fault. Nobody ever seems to take positive action to improve their lives. It’s just moan, moan, moan. And there is a complete lack of self awareness, ability to reflect and resilience in this country. Not just young people. ALL people. You see these things on here all the time. All of that together contributes to a nation of deeply unhappy, bitter people. There is so much bitterness around. I’ve never known people to be so bitter as they are nowadays.

I think people in war zones have a sense of optimism that life will return. They have a sense of community and looking after each other. A sense of pride in their country/what they are fighting for.

UK has none of these.

People with time to stop and answer some inane questions, rather than try to not die in the next 24 hours, I suspect.

I'm not saying that things don't feel pretty crappy for a lot of people right now, but they've got the relative safety and luxury to be able to bemoan their lot in life rather than be entirely consumed with staying alive.

We just love to moan.

@Peonies007 It's that envy that is eating at people.

Absolutely this. Instead of putting all that effort into changing the system so we live in a fairer country, a sizeable number of the population turn themselves in pretzels trying to keep up with people who are seriously 'old money' wealthy. There's real wealth and there's fur coats and no knickers and the lot in the fur coats are living very stressful lives, it seems, in pursuit of more.

Hey there fellow Czechoslovak citizen 👋

Bastard weather.

It's been grey forever. I woke up to sun today and felt amazing. Been for a run and everything and now I'm doing work for school on Monday. I mean, I'd rather be doing gardening, but that won't pay the bills.