Richmondshire residents among Britain’s happiest

Residents of Richmondshire are among the happiest in Britain, a study has found.

An annual survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) discovered that the district’s inhabitants were the sixth  happiest in the country.

However, while Richmondshire residents were found to be a happy bunch, they were beaten in the happiness stakes by the inhabitants of neighbouring Craven which topped the study.

The happiness survey involves a series of questions added to the ONS Annual Population Survey since 2010, a large-scale poll which consults 320,000 people.

Those taking part are asked to say on a scale of one to ten how happy they were yesterday, how satisfied they were with their life, how much they felt their life was worthwhile, and how anxious they felt.

The top ten happiest places in the country were found to be:

1. Craven, North Yorkshire

2. Orkney Islands

3. Mid Suffolk

4. Suffolk Coastal

5. Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire

6. Richmondshire, North Yorkshire

7. North Warwickshire

8. Woking, Surrey

9. Western Isles

10. Eden, Cumbria

Residents of Hertsmere borough council, on the northern edge of London, were the unhappiest in Britain in the 12 months to the end of March, according to the survey.

Richmondshire residents meanwhile were also found to be among the most satisfied with their lives, coming fifth nationally with Craven again leading the table.

At the other end of the scale the inhabitants of Wolverhampton were found to be the least satiafied.

Here are themost and least satisfied places in Britain:

Top five

Craven – 8.45

North Warwickshire – 8.36

Orkney Islands – 8.25

Uttlesford – 8.23

Richmondshire – 8.23

Bottom five

Wolverhampton – 7.12

Lewisham – 7.18

Hertsmere – 7.24

Hackney – 7.26

Greenwich – 7.28

Whitehall statisticians began measuring happiness on the instigation of former prime minister David Cameron in 2011, as he looked for other measures besides GDP to measure how the country was doing.