More Britons live in misery than population of Sheffield

One in four children in Britain is unhappy with their life and could face grave consequences when they grow up, a leading think tank has warned. The Centre for Social Justice has sounded the alarm about unhappiness in the UK, warning 719,000 people live in "misery" - more than the population of Sheffield.

There is particular concern about the impact of unhappy childhoods on later life success. The think tank's new report states: "By age 29, a very happy adolescence is associated with an income about 10% higher than average, whereas a very unhappy adolescence is associated with 30% lower income than average."

It also flags up a "crisis of parental involvement", stating that in just four years the number of families speaking to teachers about their child's progress has fallen by 24 percentage points to 53%.

The research comes on the heels of warnings severe school absence is "almost triple pre-pandemic levels" and alarm "nearly one in seven young people not in education, employment or training".

Threats to children's wellbeing are so serious the respected think tank warns of the danger of a "breakdown of social fabric". When the think tank analysed happiness, life satisfaction, "worthwhileness" and anxiety it concluded "more people than the population of Sheffield now live in misery in the UK".

It cautions that quality of life is about more than just "pounds and pence" and argues Governments have been too focused on monthly GDP scores.

The report pushes for the Labour Government to follow the example of Scotland and Northern Ireland and introduce a wellbeing strategy.

Ed Davies, the CSJ's director of research, said: "The narrow focus on GDP and tyranny of the Treasury is blinding the Government to the cracks in our society's foundations that people are falling through.

"Dissatisfied children lead to unhappy adults. Solving wellbeing starts with sound policy for early years development".

Mr Davies questioned the cross-party push for greater childcare provision so parents can go out to work, stating that "despite being one of the world's wealthiest nations we have some of the least happy children"

He said: "Our own polling has found that 70% of working parents would like to spend more time caring for their child, and almost half of parents with pre-school children would like to stop working altogether if they could; this is not a popular policy."

There is also concern about the stresses on older Britons.

The report states: "People in middle age have the lowest life satisfaction of any age group. This period corresponds to the time of life with the most caring responsibilities."

The CSJ has estimated "400,000 carers had to leave their jobs to care for older or disabled family members in 2021-22".

The think tank is concerned by a landmark 2022 report from the OECD on young people which found one in four students in the UK are not satisfied. This compares with 18% for other OECD nations.

It warns: "If child wellbeing predicts adult wellbeing, then we are approaching a generation of unhappy adults."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "High and rising standards are at the heart of the government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring all children and young people can achieve and thrive.

"Our Plan for Change sets out our relentless focus on making sure every child gets the best life chances, no matter their background, including establishing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, providing access to mental health support and making attendance one of the four core priorities of our school improvement teams.

"We're also ensuring thousands more families will have the support of a specialist worker who can make sure they receive all the help they need from parenting to mental health or addiction support, by doubling council funding for early intervention from this year."