It is confirmation of what many weary commuters have secretly suspected.

Research has found that stay-at-home mothers are happier than those who go out to work.

The survey said that if staying at home with the children were counted as a job, it would rank as having happier workers than any other trade or profession.

Only one in seven stay-at-home parents say they are dissatisified with their role, a level of unhappiness that is less than half that found among civil servants or salesmen and women.

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Research has found that stay-at-home mothers are happier than those who go out to work

The survey, carried out for insurance group LV=, asked more than 3,000 to say whether or not they were satisfied with their lives. The ratings recorded are the percentage who indicated they were not unhappy with their lot.

The country's two million stay-at-home parents – the great majority of them mothers – were recorded in the report as 'homemakers'.

They scored 87.2 per cent in the happiness ratings. The others in the top five were those working in: hospitality and events management – 86.3 per cent; creative arts and design – 84.4 per cent; the charity sector – 83.9 per cent; leisure, sport and tourism – 83.7 per cent.

The least satisfied were working in marketing, advertising and public relations, with a happiness rating of 53.8 per cent.

The others in the bottom five were: police and security officers – 59.4 per cent; salesmen and women – 67.4 per cent; civil servants – 70 per cent; shop workers – 70.8 per cent.

The report said: 'Homemakers are happier than people working in any other occupation, but they work double the hours most people think.'

The findings reinforce the results of large-scale research on well-being carried out by the Office for National Statistics, which has shown that stay-at-home mothers believe their lives are more worthwhile than their counterparts in work.

Government surveys have also shown that more than a third of mothers who go out to work would like to give up their jobs and stay at home with their children.

But women who stay at home to bring up families are under heavy pressure from the Government to find jobs and send their children into childcare.

Laura Perrins, co-editor of the Conservative Woman website, said: 'What this survey confirms is how satisfying the vocation of raising children at home, and all the work that this entails, is.