The most common New Year resolutions – and who has stuck to them

With the first week of January now behind us, a surprising majority of people who made New Year resolutions have managed to stick to them, according to a recent YouGov survey.

One in five Brits made silent vows to improve one small thing, with losing weight and getting fit proving to be the most popular goals.

Others pledged to save more money, eat more healthily, pursue a career ambition or spend more time with their family.

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Taking up a new hobby, decorating and volunteering were also among the most common resolutions. Others vowed to cut back on vices such as drinking, smoking and social media.

More than 70 per cent of the people who took part in the survey said they had kept to their plans in the first week of January. While 22 per cent said they had not, a "large proportion of these people are likely to have failed to make progress so far on their resolutions (eg losing weight) rather than having actually broken them", says YouGov data journalist Matthew Smith.

Around half of people are expected to succeed if 2016 is anything to go by: 48 per cent of those who made a New Year's resolution at the start of last year claim they kept to it.

YouGov surveyed a total of 1,629 British adults.