What Works Wellbeing

Year of publication: 2017

This examines what drives wellbeing inequality at the local authority level in Great Britain. Looking at inequality in life satisfaction, the research sought to identify what was associated with inequality. Data on life satisfaction was taken from four years of the Annual Population Survey for over 200 local authorities, and the model was independent of other variables, such as ethnicity or income.

Inequality in life satisfaction explores the distribution of wellbeing across a population, giving a much richer picture than averages alone. One authority may have a similar mean score to another, but this could disguise a large number of people in this authority reporting very low life satisfaction.

The model found that higher inequality in life satisfaction is associated with higher deprivation, unemployment, and rurality, whereas higher median income, female life expectancy, engagement in heritage activities and use of green space are associated with lower inequality in life satisfaction. The model did not look at what causes this inequality, and concludes that further research here would be valuable.

Content type: Equality

Tags: Report

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