Middle-aged atheists the 'unhappiest people' in Britain

Middle-aged Britons are the least happy, have the lowest levels of life satisfaction and the highest levels of anxiety.

This is according to a major wellbeing study carried out by the Office for National Statistics, which questioned more than 300,000 people across the country from 2012 to 2015.

They were asked to rate out of ten how happy and anxious they had felt the previous day, their level of general life satisfaction and how worthwhile they thought life was.

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The results were broken down by factors including age, ethnicity, religion and location:

Age

People aged 45-59 are the unhappiest, while those in retirement (65-79) reported the highest levels of wellbeing – although happiness levels decreased again in the over-80s.

"[One] possible reason for lower scores for the middle-age groups could result from the burden caused by having to care for both parents and children at the same time," said the ONS.

Mental health groups also point to the fact that people in this age bracket are more likely to be dealing with family pressures such as divorce, The Guardian reports.

Religion

People from all different faiths are happier than those who have no religion, according to the study. Hindus top the league, followed by Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists. Muslims reported the lowest happiness levels out of all of the religious groups.

Ethnicity

Researchers found people of Arab ethnicity are the most anxious ethnic group, while Chinese people were the least anxious.

Location

The least happy people in the UK live in England, with the north-east ranked the unhappiest region. Northern Ireland was named the happiest nation in the UK, but residents also reported the highest levels of anxiety.