The U-shape of Happiness in Scotland

David N.F Bell,David Blanchflower

doi:10.3386/w28144

Abstract

Abstract We examine well-being in Scotland using micro data from the Scottish Health Survey and the UK Annual Population Surveys. We find evidence of a midlife nadir or zenith in Scotland in well-being at around age fifty using a variety of measures of both happiness and unhappiness. We confirm that higher consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with higher levels of happiness in Scotland. We compare this with evidence for England from the Health Survey of England. The decline in well-being between youth and midlife is comparable in size to the loss of a spouse or of a job and around half of the fall in well-being in the COVID-19 lockdown. We also find a mid-life peak in suicides in Scotland. Despite higher mortality and suicide rates in Scotland than in England, paradoxically we find that the Scots are happier than the English. Northern Ireland is the happiest of the four home countries. We also find evidence of U-shapes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the mid to late forties.

Highlights

This paper looks at well-being in Scotland and builds on our earlier paper on Scotland (Bell and Blanchflower, 2007)
We find a mid-life peak in suicides in Scotland. We find that those living in Scotland are happier than those living in England but paradoxically the Scots have higher mortality and suicide rates
Scotland is the least happy region with only London lower ranked in terms of life satisfaction and happiness which is consistent with what we found in Bell and Blanchflower (2007)

Summary

Introduction

This paper looks at well-being in Scotland and builds on our earlier paper on Scotland (Bell and Blanchflower, 2007). Blanchflower and Oswald, (2008), showed that a U-shape in age existed in well-being data across a number of countries.

Results

Conclusion