Survey Says Burnley Is Among the Unhappiest Places in the UK
A recent poll has discovered that Burnley is the third most “unhappiest” British city. The survey emanated from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) which kept track of data about individual’s sense of and experiences related to “personal well-being” in the United Kingdom (UK). This data was collected between October 2015 and 2016 so as to determine which areas of the UK where life’s enjoyment is the lowest. So, Burnley showed up as the third unhappiest area in which to reside, with Corby taking an unenviable first place followed by West Lancashire in the second slot.
Four polling questions were asked to members of the public. They were: “How satisfied are you with your life nowadays? To what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? How happy did you feel yesterday? and finally How anxious did you feel yesterday?” Based upon the answers, those regions with the lower strata of contentment were all located in the UK with six of the areas in London.
The Burnley authority considers the report “misrepresented,” according to a spokesperson on behalf of the Burnley Council, the environment in the borough.
He continued, stating, “Our focus is on getting on with a range of initiatives that are about building on all of Burnley’s positive strengths, such as continuing to attract jobs and investment.
“We do, of course, recognize the importance of promoting well-being, which is why we work with Burnley Leisure and many other organizations on activities and initiatives that can make a big contribution to this.”
Preston earned the distinction as the fourth unhappiest area in which to reside and the remainder of the areas were mostly in the South and the Midlands.
Office for National Statistics representative Matthew Steel said: “At a time when economic measures are generally improving,” indicated ONS representative Matthew Steel, “this is not necessarily reflected in how people tell us they are feeling about their lives. Whilst it is too early to say why anxiety ratings have increased slightly and why life satisfaction, happiness, and worthwhile ratings have leveled off in the past 12 months, we know from our previous research that factors impacting most on people’s personal well-being include health, work situation, and relationship status.”
On the other side, Burnley was voted by a high-end UK newspaper poll recently as the “friendliest town in Britain.” It was the Times, which had taken a large poll on people’s lives in conjunction with the Legatum Institute UK prosperity’s rating. Three areas in which Burnley placed at the top are: housing affordability; the strength of family bonds, and reliability in an emergency. The “emergency” finding was measured by how many of your friends and neighbors can count on you in an emergency. Burnley was the only urban municipality to perform at the top level.