Dundee is the least happy place in Scotland for the second year running and has the lowest number of people satisfied with their lives.
New data from the Office for National Statistics well-being survey has shown the city rooted to the bottom of the table in three of four key analysis measures – life satisfaction, how worthwhile people feel, general happiness and anxiety.
Satisfaction with life in the city has remained static while it rose across the rest of Tayside and Fife.
Dundee stayed at an average rating of 7.43 out of 10 in 2015/16 compared with the same score the previous year and down from 7.57 in 2011/12.
All other areas improved with the Scottish average also going up from 7.66 and 7.68.
In terms of how worthwhile people feel, Dundee fared the worst in Scotland dropping from 7.52 to 7.49 year on year.
Fife also saw a decrease from 7.81 to 7.76 and Angus dropped from 7.94 to 7.66.
Perth and Kinross feel most worthwhile in Courier Country despite a drop from 7.94 to 7.92.
Along with Falkirk, Dundee was jointly least happy in Scotland scoring 7.19 – albeit an improvement from 7.08 the year before.
Perth and Kinross residents again came out top in the local area on 7.60 although the rating decreased from 7.68.
Happiness levels in Fife have steadily shot up from a dismal 7.18 in 2011/12 to 7.39 in both 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Angus saw a year on year drop from 7.61 to 7.46.
Anxiety levels were also recorded with Fife seeing an unwelcome increase to top the Courier Country list.
The region went from 2.89 in 2014/15 to 2.92 last year while Dundee also saw a spike from 2.76 to 2.85.
In Perth and Kinross there was a decrease in anxiety levels from 3.04 to 2.81 over the five years and it seems Angus is the least anxious place in Tayside and Fife, going from 2.67 to 2.41 over that time.
Dawn Snape of the Office for National Statistics said: “We have seen personal well-being improving on a UK-wide basis over the past five years.
“But today’s data paints a richer picture, enabling people to explore what’s been happening in their local area.
“This will help individuals, communities and local authorities to look at well-being locally alongside other more traditional measures of progress.”
Despite having the worst record in Scotland, Dundee did not feature in the least satisfied or least happy top ten areas in the UK.
However the city did make the British top ten for residents not feeling worthwhile.
The Office of National Statistics study is updated every six months to provide a picture of life across the UK.
After extensive public consultation the body identified 10 aspects of life that people said mattered to their well-being.
These include personal well-being, our relationships, our health, the economy, and the environment.
Since 2011, ONS has asked questions to adults in the UK, to better understand how they feel about their lives, including:
*Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
*Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
*Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
*Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
People are asked to respond on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is “not at all” and 10 is “completely”.
Analysis by Graeme Bletcher, District News Editor:
According to the ancient Greeks, happiness is “the joy that we feel when we’re striving after our potential.”
If that analysis is correct then Dundonians have the right to be more than a little peeved at the latest ONS survey statistics.
While the city continues to struggle with deprivation and unemployment, there can be no doubt that co-ordinated efforts to reinvent are being made, not least at the waterfront where our modern day Acropolis continues to rise.
Indeed, there is nothing that boils the blood of city residents more than people (or the media) “doing Dundee down”, even though in this instance the survey data has been taken from local interviews and therefore should provide a reasonable barometer.
Perhaps of more concern than general happiness, though, are the figures showing Dundee comes bottom of the Scottish pile in how worthwhile we feel our lives are.
For any community to flourish, the mentality has to be of a positive, can-do nature and a lack of self-esteem or self-worth can only hinder us from pursuing our goals and dreams.
As a local authority area, Dundee City has, for too long, languished behind its Tayside neighbours when it comes to these satisfaction surveys, so it was also interesting to note that, year on year, happiness levels dropped in both Angus and Perthshire.
Like the civilisations of old, every city has its rise and fall but not all are fortunate enough to enjoy the kind of renaissance currently taking place beside the Tay.
Hopefully in years to come history will view Dundee as a place that was able to recapture happiness by seizing hold of its own future.