Latest Life in the UK Index shows quality of life has stagnated

Wellbeing did not improve between 2023 and 2024, according to research among more than 6,700 UK residents.

The author(s)
  • Dr. Emily Gray Managing Director, Scotland
  • Matt Hunt Research Manager
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The Life in the UK Index has been designed by Carnegie UK and Ipsos to measure the wellbeing of the people of the UK by looking at social, economic, environmental and democratic aspects of life in the country. The Index provides a new measure of social progress to aid public policy decision-making and to complement Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Now in its second year, the 2024 index shows no improvement across any of its headline measures.

Key findings

  • Overall, the UK’s collective wellbeing score is 61 out of a possible 100. The overall score is the average of scores for social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing and measures whether we are ‘living well together’. This is one point lower than it was in 2023, but the change is not statistically significant.
  • In 2024, there are no significant changes in wellbeing scores across any of the four domains measured by the Index. The social wellbeing score for the UK is 72 and the economic wellbeing score is 71, out of a possible 100. These scores are identical to the social and economic wellbeing scores reported in 2023. Meanwhile, the environmental wellbeing score for the UK is 62 out of a possible 100, one point lower than it was in 2023. Likewise, the democratic wellbeing score for the UK is 40 out of a possible 100, one point lower than it was in 2023.
  • Wellbeing scores vary substantially according to demographic factors, particularly household income, housing tenure, disability and location of residence. People with lower annual household incomes, people living in social housing, people with a disability and people living in the UK’s most deprived areas (IMD1) experience lower collective wellbeing.
  • There are widespread feelings of disempowerment in relation to political decision-making. For the second year running, the UK’s democratic wellbeing score is substantially lower than the three other domains. More than half (53%) of the public have low levels of trust in the UK Government and 50% have low levels of trust in MPs. Furthermore, more than half (55%) of the public feel they are unable to influence decisions at a local level, while 28% have low levels of trust in local councils.

Emily Gray, Managing Director of Ipsos in Scotland, said: 

The Life in the UK Index provides robust evidence that allows policymakers across the UK to track how people’s wellbeing is getting better or worse over time. Unfortunately, these latest results show that wellbeing has been stagnant over the past year across the board - which underlines the scale of the challenge currently facing the UK Government. The low level of democratic wellbeing, for a second year running, will be a particular concern for politicians and points to the importance of restoring public trust in politics and government.

Download the Life in the UK 2024 technical report and tables

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Technical note

  • The Life in the UK Index has been devised to track the wellbeing of the UK's people over time. This data allows governments across the UK to understand whether we are living better or worse over time and to identify areas of our lives that require policy intervention.
  • The Index consists of an overall collective wellbeing score, calculated from a score for each of four themes: social, environmental, economic and democratic wellbeing. The score for each is based on several different survey questions relevant to that wellbeing theme.
  • The Life in the UK Index 2024 is based upon a 26-question online survey of a representative UK sample of 6,774 adults aged 16+ between 9 and 15 May 2024. The data was collected using the Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel, an online random probability panel which provides gold standard insights into the UK population, by providing bigger sample sizes via the most rigorous research methods.
  • Data are weighted by gender, age, region, education, ethnicity, Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile, number of adults in the household, and community background (in Northern Ireland), to reflect the profile of the UK population.
  • Ipsos used factor analysis to construct the Index scores and regression analysis to help us understand which demographic characteristics (including gender, age, income, disability, area deprivation, tenure and ethnicity) are most associated both with collective wellbeing overall and with social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing specifically.
  • Carnegie UK and Ipsos designed, developed and analysed the Index in partnership. The recommendations outlined in the Life in the UK Index report are Carnegie UK’s alone.
The author(s)
  • Dr. Emily Gray Managing Director, Scotland
  • Matt Hunt Research Manager

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