People in Colchester are feeling as satisfied with their lives as before the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.

But data has found people do not rank their happiness as highly. 

Across the UK, happiness levels recovered from a pandemic dip in 2020-21, but remained down on 2019-20.

But Office for National Statistics figures show the average person in Colchester was not as happy in 2021-22 as they were than the year before.  

Happiness ratings fell from 7.4 to 6.8.

The data also showed people living in the borough of Colchester are the unhappiest in Essex.

The figures show the average person in Colchester answered the question "how satisfied are you with your life nowadays" at 7.4 out of 10 in the year to March, where one is "not at all" and 10 is "completely".

This is down from 7.7 the year before and is now in line with pre-pandemic levels.

Across the UK, satisfaction levels have rebounded in the last year, though have still not recovered following the pandemic, sitting at 7.5, up from 7.4 in 2020-21 but below 7.7 in the year to March 2020.

Happiness levels were also up nationally – from 7.3 to 7.5 – while people generally felt less anxious, with the average rating falling from 3.3 to 3.1.

In Colchester, anxiety levels remained the same at 3.2.

People living in Colchester rated their life as worthwhile at 7.6 out of 10 – below 7.8 in 2019-20.