2nd Unhappiest place to live. UK

[Newtonianmechanics]

m.economictimes.com/nri/latest-updates/uk-is-officially-the-worlds-second-most-miserable-country-these-were-the-happiest-and-unhappiest-countries-of-2023/amp_articleshow/108361220.cms

Clearly it isn't the most scientific test. However....

Unhappier than literal war zones.

Why is this?

Are we just a bunch of entitled grumps and grifters that lack resilience?

Or

Is it the cost of living crisis and the work work society? The disparity between rich and poor. The huge living costs and people not having spare money to fund fun despite earning well.
That things are getting worse not better or a number of other issues?
Childrens time being micromanaged to the nth degree. Too unsafe to play in the street like we used to. Constant pressure.

Why?

Well, hello! 😁

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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....

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!

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

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

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.

... 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 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.

happier with this one TBH
Clerkenwell named as best place to live in London - BBC News

People from many of the countries you mention "want" to come here in order not to be killed in conflict. Not because life here is inherently better in any other way.

Social infrastructure in the UK is poor in many places. There is little sense of real community in many places. Strong social relationships and community have a huge impact on wellbeing. There are also huge disparities in wealth and health, sometimes within the same town.

So much of this really resonates with me

You can have low levels of happiness for cultural reasons. It's not a reflection of living standards.

I'd be happier if people would stop peddling this sort of drivel.

You're going to have to put down the medieval latin you are translating because I will deliver information that might bewilder you: there are an incredible range of styles in the world, and it is not simply a division between 'Real Housewives of Cheshire' and slobs with inferiority complexes. In Madrid, Copenhagen, and Lagos, and you'll find people who love style and take pride in putting together looks.

More so, though, I'm talking about disposable income, in which the UK performs poorly among Western nations due to high taxes and low salaries. It is the only G7 nation where disposable income is still worse than pre-pandemic levels.

I've only been on MN a couple of years and I must admit the threads that piss me off the most are the UK bashing threads and here we have another one.

I love the UK, I do get pissed off that I can't put that I am English on forms I fill out I have to be British and that other people can put if they're Welsh, Scottish etc and get cross that we can't celebrate our Englishness we're always called racist but .....

I am so grateful that I can vote and know it isn't fixed and that I'm not stuck with Putin for another session

Yes the weather can be awful but I don't let it get me down, I'm just grateful I can walk around without dodging bullets and bombs.

Start being more positive about this country, please or otherwise just piss off somewhere else and let those who want to come here have your jobs

Yes we were saying that today. It's much easier to be cheerful when it's sunny.

I don't like hot weather, but damp miserable weather isn't good for anyone except ducks!

Yes I can never understand that either. OK so they might speak English, but it's not that difficult to learn French or German or whatever.

I remember reading about some Iranian doctors leaving Germany to come here via the small boats and just thought "really?" Germany has its problems but generally speaking the standard of living here is better than here.