Researchers believe they may have found the secret to happiness, with Australians who live in towns with fewer than 1,000 people being significantly happier than those in big cities.

Conducted by the University of Melbourne, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA) is the most comprehensive of its kind in Australia — 17,000 people are interviewed about their happiness and its factors.

The report's author, Associate Professor Roger Wilkins, said there were a number of factors that impacted on happiness.

"The traditional big ones are our health, relationships ... being unemployed is extremely bad for your happiness," he said.

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The survey revealed some unexpected patterns in our national happiness that some people may find depressing.

The key findings include: Men are more satisfied with their partners than women

Men are more satisfied with their partners than women People who live in towns of fewer than 1,000 people enjoy higher levels of life satisfaction

People who live in towns of fewer than 1,000 people enjoy higher levels of life satisfaction Women living in Queensland appear to be the happiest

Women living in Queensland appear to be the happiest People in de facto living arrangements are more satisfied with their partners

People in de facto living arrangements are more satisfied with their partners Happiness wanes the longer a relationship lasts and once children arrive

For example, Associate Professor Wilkins said the happiest among us were those who lived in towns smaller than 1,000 people.

"We don't probe into why people were happier in those small towns, so it's really a point of speculation as to why we find that effect," he said.

"The sorts of things that you think of are lack of traffic congestion and bigger cities tend to have more crime."

The survey also has some bad news if you are a woman in a relationship.

"Men get more of a kick, if you like, to their happiness from being married and they also tend to be more satisfied with their partner than women do," Associate Professor Wilkins said.

"Which is not to say that women get nothing out of relationships, but certainly not as much as men it seems.

"And also in terms of their health too, there's quite a significant health benefit it seems to marriage for men, but not women."

De facto relationships and the impact of children

In fact, Associate Professor Wilkins said de facto relationships fared much better than marriage overall.

"De facto couples, on average, report higher levels of satisfaction with their partner than married couples," he said.

"Now there's a few reasons for that; one is that they're less likely to have children, and we find that children do have a negative impact on relationship satisfaction.

"They are, I guess, a source of some tension in a relationship — you know, who's going to do the child care and so forth.

"And also people who are legally married tend to have been in those relationships longer than de facto couples and so we do find a negative effect of relationship duration on satisfaction with the relationship."

Associate Professor Wilkins said one of the things not picked up in the survey was that children themselves were a source of happiness.

"So while having a child might cause a decrease in satisfaction with your partner, you also gain the satisfaction associated with having a child," he said.