Life in UK not improving for average person, official statistics show

New official figures show that life is not improving for the average person in the UK.  

Statistics produced by the ONS show that fewer people feel that they’re in good health than they did in 2020 and trust in government has fallen since the General Election. The UK headline measures of National Well-being publication also shows that while GDP per head has gone back to its pre-pandemic levels, life satisfaction has not returned to the levels seen before the coronavirus outbreak.    

Carnegie UK – a foundation that works on wellbeing public policy – urged UK politicians and officials to analyse these trends and to work more systematically to improve people’s lives.     

Sarah Davidson, chief executive of Carnegie UK, said: “Government’s top priority should be improving the lives of their people. And these figures show that the current approach isn’t delivering at scale for people up and down these islands.  

“At Carnegie UK, we would be the first to recognise that delivering the change required would be no mean feat. Many of the challenges the nation faces – like improvements to the public’s health – cannot be resolved over a parliamentary term. But just because a goal might take a long time to achieve doesn’t mean it isn’t worth working toward. 

“We would urge politicians and officials to recognise the value of statistics like these to identify shared public policy outcomes and measure progress.”

The ONS has also outlined a change in approach to the way it presents data about wellbeing. Carnegie UK has welcomed the move to safeguard these statistics and applauds the decision to include a measure looking at trust in government in the new set of headline measures.

Sarah Davidson said: “This new approach from the ONS will be easier to understand and they’ve clearly laid out their logic for the changes they’ve applied. We strongly support the decision to continue to measure trust in government – a metric that looks increasingly important to our shared future.”