ELEANOR HALL: If you're female and living in Queensland you're likely to be one of the happiest people in Australia, according to a University of Melbourne study.

The survey of 17,000 people has found that Australians living in the bush, and those in childless de facto relationships, are also more likely to be happy.

Angela Lavoipierre reports.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: Happiness is an elusive thing for many Australians, and now researchers have mapped some of the reasons for that.

The annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey, or HILDA, examines a range of complex factors in people's so called "life satisfaction", including their health, their relationships, and their location.

The report's author, Associate Professor Roger Wilkins, says if it's happiness you want, small towns are the place to go.

ROGER WILKINS: We don't probe into why people were happier in those small towns; it's really a point of speculation as to why we find that effect. The thoughts of things that you think of are lack of traffic congestion and the long commute times and so forth that are associated with that. Bigger cities tend to have more crime.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: Gordon Gregory is the chief executive of the National Rural Health Alliance. He says it's an impressive result, given life is often more difficult for people in the bush.

GORDON GREGORY: People in rural areas, small communities are happier despite having poorer health and despite having lower incomes. So, the other things that are happening are so powerful apparently that they can overcome health status and even income status which is great news.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: The survey has some bad news if you're a woman in a relationship.

ROGER WILKINS: 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, which is not to say that women get nothing out of relationships, but certainly not as much as men it seems. Also, in terms of their health too; there's quite a significant health benefit it seems in marriage for men but not women.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: In fact, Associate Professor Roger Wilkins says de facto relationships fared much better than marriage over all.

ROGER WILKINS: Now there are 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 from who's going to do the childcare and so forth.

People who are legally married tend to have been in those relationships longer than de fact couples and so we do find the negative effect of relationship duration on satisfaction with the relationship.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: I think a lot of people would hear the results on the relationship front and, you know, children make us less happy and the longer you're together the less likely you are to be happy and find that pretty depressing?

ROGER WILKINS: Well, one of the things that I guess is not picked up there is that children themselves are 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.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: Janine O'Brien is a Sydney-based clinical midwife specialist. She runs classes for expecting parents on how to cope with not only the birth, but the effect that a child will have on their relationship.

JANINE O'BRIEN: Nothing really ever prepares you for being a parent and often women especially will look towards the birth rather than the parenting.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: She tells all couples to get as much support as possible.

JANINE O'BRIEN: And when the stress and the responsibility is laid on two people, it's overwhelming and it's not how we are designed to bring up children. We're supposed to parent in communities and I think that's probably one of the biggest things that we're missing.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: Roger Wilkins says the survey shows that people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual on average have poorer health and are less happy.

ROGER WILKINS: It's a very concerning finding because there's no reason to think that one's sexuality identity should have any implications directly for your health and wellbeing, and it does suggest that there are social forces at work here that are responsible for that.

ANGELA LAVOIPIERRE: Clinton Power runs a counselling service for the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

He says things have improved in recent years, but only in some places.

CLINTON POWER: I think as you move away from the metropolitan areas, you know, things such as homophobia and insults and violence towards LGBTI people is still relatively high and I think the issue is that a lot of LGBTI people don't feel safe in coming out in regional areas and certainly the research reflects that.

ELEANOR HALL: That's counsellor Clinton Power ending that report from Angela Lavoipierre.