Highlights

Men and women

• The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale ranges from 14-70; the mean score was 52.5 for men and 52.2 for women. 

Age

• Wellbeing is lowest for men and women who are middle aged, peaks in those aged 65-74 and then falls in those aged 85 and over. 

Income

• On average, those living in lower income households had lower wellbeing scores than those living in higher income households. 

Health and activity

• Men and women who said their health in general was ‘very bad’ had average well-being scores of 40.6 and 38.0 respectively, compared with scores of 55.8 for men and 55.7 for women who rated their health as ‘very good’.
• On average, men and women who had a normal BMI had higher wellbeing scores than those who were overweight or obese.
• On average, participants who met government guidelines for the recommended levels of physical activity had higher wellbeing scores than others.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, a low wellbeing score was most strongly associated with probable mental ill health, anxiety and depression, and low self-reported general health.