Personal wellbeing remains high in Northern Ireland
Date published:
New official statistics published today by NISRA statisticians in The Executive Office present findings on individual wellbeing in Northern Ireland for the 2024/25 financial year.
Key figures
- Overall, personal wellbeing remained consistent with 2023/24 levels with average scores for life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness remaining ‘high’ and anxiety remaining ‘low’.
- Levels of self-efficacy, locus of control and the frequency of loneliness (‘at least some of the time’) remained consistent with 2023/24 levels.
- 33% of people reported very high levels of life satisfaction, 36% reported very high levels of happiness and 41% reported very high levels of feeling that the things they do are worthwhile.
- 43% of people reported very low levels of anxiety, while 20% reported high levels of anxiety.
- 17.9% of people reported feeling lonely ‘at least some of the time’.
- Similar to 2023/24, people who reported their health as ‘very good’ continue to report better levels of wellbeing than those who reported their health as ‘bad/very bad’, and people with a disability continue to report lower levels of wellbeing than those without a disability.
- Those who are married or in a civil partnership reported the lowest loneliness, higher self-efficacy and better levels of personal wellbeing compared to all other marital status groups.
- People living in the most deprived areas reported lower levels of individual wellbeing compared with those in the least deprived areas.
About this publication
This report uses data from the 2024/25 Continuous Household Survey and presents findings on four key areas of individual wellbeing for people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland:
- Loneliness - the frequency with which people report feeling lonely
- Self-efficacy - a person's belief about their capabilities to influence events in their lives
- Personal wellbeing - life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety and feeling that life is worthwhile
- Locus of control - the degree to which a person feels in control of their life
Further information
Read the full report: Individual Wellbeing in Northern Ireland
View data tables and background information: Individual Wellbeing in Northern Ireland Report 2024/25 | The Executive Office