Orkney — the happiest place in Britain

Orkney, along with Shetland and the Western Isles are the ‘happiest’ places in Britain according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics earlier this week.

82.85 per cent of people surveyed in the three island groups said that they would rate their level of happiness between 7-10 on a scale of 1-10 — over two percent more than second placed Rutland, in the East Midlands.

In contrast, Blackpool had the lowest levels of happiness with only 63.5 per cent of people in the 7-10 bracket.

The three island areas, which were grouped together in order to give a big enough sample size, had some of the best scores in all the categories analysed, which included ‘life satisfaction’, anxiety levels and those who considered themselves to be leading ‘worthwhile lives’.