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Jon Franklin

@jonfranklin.bsky.social

Chief Economist at Pro Bono Economics

Jon Franklin @jonfranklin.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Most worryingly, around 2.7 million adults continue to live in wellbeing poverty (scoring 0-4 on the Life Satisfaction scale). This remains around 290,000 higher than it was in 2019.

Line chart showing the proportion of UK adults with low life satisfaction. Declines from around 7% in 2011 to around 4.5% in 2019, before spiking to above 6% during the pandemic. It has since recovered but remains at an elevated level of 5% in 2025 Q1.

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Jon Franklin @jonfranklin.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

UK is still recovering from the "wellbeing recession". Latest data from the ONS shows that average Life Satisfaction in the first quarter of 2025 remained 1.3% down on pre-pandemic levels.

Line chart showing average life satisfaction in the UK. Increases from 7.4 in 2011 to 7.7 in 2019, before declining rapidly to 7.3 during the pandemic. It then partially recovers in 2021 but has remained between 7.4 and 7.6 since that time.

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