Britain moved up the happiness index from 19th last year to 15th

Britain has bucked the global trend of falling levels of happiness and is one of the few countries where wellbeing improved over the past three years.

Strong degrees of generosity towards charitable causes and an extensive system of welfare and social support were among the factors that helped Britain improve its factors in the world happiness report, which ranks 156 countries according to the happiness of their citizens. Lower levels of corruption also contributed.

Across the world people’s evaluations of their happiness dropped to levels that were last seen after the financial crisis of 2008-09, having briefly risen in its aftermath but then fallen steadily.

Levels of happiness in Britain rose slightly between 2016, when the Brexit referendum was held, and last year, as optimism