Accredited official statistics

Chapter 4: Well-being and loneliness

Published 28 November 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

This chapter shows the well-being of respondents using four measures of personal well-being. It then goes on to discuss loneliness with an emphasis on comparisons to pre-pandemic results.

For an introduction and summary of main findings in this report as a whole, please see the Introduction and key findings.

Well-being

In the EHS, well-being is measured using the following four questions to measure personal well-being:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Referred to as ‘life satisfaction’.
• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? Referred to as ‘life is worthwhile’.
• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Referred to as ‘happiness’.
• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? Referred to as ‘anxiety’.

For most questions, respondents are asked to give their answers on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’. These questions have been included in the EHS since 2013-14.

These questions are the standard well-being questions developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the Measuring National Well-being Programme which aims to produce accepted and trusted measures on well-being in the UK. See here for further information: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing.

Personal well-being scores varied by tenure. In 2023-24, owner occupiers had a higher mean score for life satisfaction (7.8), thinking life is worthwhile (8.0), happiness (7.8), and lower scores for anxiety (2.6), than the private rented sector (7.1; 7.6; 7.3; 3.2) and social rented sector (6.9; 7.3; 6.9; 3.6), Annex Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1.

Among owner occupiers in 2023-24, outright owners showed higher scores than mortgagors for life satisfaction (7.9 compared with 7.7), thinking life is worthwhile (8.1 compared with 8.0) and happiness (7.9 compared with 7.6), and lower scores for anxiety (2.5 compared with 2.8), Annex Table 4.1.

Private renters reported being less satisfied with their lives in 2023-24 (7.1), compared to 2022-23 (7.3). Similarly, across all tenures, life satisfaction has decreased from 7.5 in 2022-23 to 7.4 in 2023-24. Respondents also gave lower average scores for believing that life is worthwhile (7.8 in 2022-23 compared to 7.7 in 2023-24).

These findings may suggest there is a relationship between well-being and tenure, though this could also be mediated by related factors, such as income, age and working status.

Figure 4.1: Well-being, by tenure, 2023-24

^{Base: all household reference person
Notes:
1) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.1
Source: English Housing survey, full household sample}

When comparing current well-being levels to those before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20, overall personal well-being scores have decreased. In 2023-24, fewer households across all tenures believe their life is satisfactory (7.4 in 2023-24 compared to 7.7 in 2019-20) and worthwhile (7.7 in 2023-24 vs 7.9 in 2019-20), anxiety has risen (3.0 in 2023-24 vs 2.7 in 2019-20) and happiness has fallen (7.5 in 2023-24 vs 7.6 in 2019-20).

Loneliness

Loneliness is not measured on a scale of 0 to 10 but instead by asking respondents how often they feel lonely. Response options range from ‘Often or always’ to ‘Never’. Here, we focus on those who said they were lonely often or always. This question was included in the EHS for the first time in 2019-20.

This loneliness question is from the National Indicators of Loneliness and is a standard question used to measure loneliness. See here for further information: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-measures-of-loneliness.

In 2023-24, owner occupiers reported being less likely to often or always feel lonely (4%) in comparison to the private rented sector (7%) and owner occupiers were also more likely to never feel lonely (36%) compared to 30% in the private rented sector. Those in the social rented sector were much more likely than other sectors to feel lonely often or always (14%), Annex Table 4.2.

During the last few years, those in the social rented sector have consistently been the most likely to report feeling lonely often or always. The proportions in each sector who report feeling lonely often or always have stayed broadly consistent since 2021-22, Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2: Often or always feeling lonely, by tenure, 2019-20 – 2023-24

^{Base: all household reference persons 
Notes:
1) underlying data are presented in Annex Table 4.2
2) The question on loneliness was introduced part way through fieldwork in 2019-20. Loneliness questions are only asked of the HRP. For this reason, only proportions are reported.
Source: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

Underlying Data

For data underlying this report, see the Annex tables. For the charts in this report, see Figures.

Technical notes and glossary

For technical information, please see the technical notes.

For a detailed glossary of terms please see the glossary.