All,
A Statistical Bulletin presenting the Wellbeing results from the National Survey for Wales was released on our website yesterday:
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/statistics/headlines/compendia2009/national-survey-wales-jan-mar-2012-wellbeing/?skip=1&lang=en
The National Survey for Wales includes a number of questions about wellbeing. The National Survey asks four questions on overall subjective wellbeing and eight questions on satisfaction with various 'domains of life' (developed by ONS). The survey also included questions on a range of policy areas relevant to wellbeing, including local communities, the natural environment, crime, accessibility to local services and discrimination.
The bulletin presents a summary of the findings based on the first quarter of the survey's fieldwork (from January to March 2012).
The key findings are:
Low wellbeing was more likely to be reported by unemployed people and by people dissatisfied with their physical or mental health. 41% of unemployed people gave a low rating for their 'satisfaction with life' (compared with 15% of employed people). 61% of those with poor mental health gave a low score for 'how happy they felt yesterday' (compared with 21% of those with good mental health).
People who were dissatisfied with their financial situation were more likely to be dissatisfied with other areas of their life.
People living in the most deprived areas were more likely than people living in the least deprived areas to feel unsafe after dark. 83% of people living in the least deprived area felt safe walking in their local area after dark, compared with 64% of people in the most deprived areas.
9% of people had experienced discrimination in the past 12 months.
The relationships shown above do not necessarily indicate a causal link, and it is often the case that various factors occur together. More detailed analysis of the interrelationship between different factors that may affect wellbeing will be carried out after the first full set of results is available in May 2013. A separate analysis of the Annual Population Survey has investigated these issues for four of the measures of wellbeing that are also included in the National Survey.
Please do forward this e-mail on to anyone you think may be interested in the results of the survey.
If you do not already get updates about the survey, but would like to receive information about the survey's progress or would like an opportunity to shape the content for future years, please let me know and I'll add your name to our contact list.
If you have any questions or queries about this bulletin, please do get in touch
Kind regards,
Darren