Why marriage makes you as happy as earning a top salary



Marriage counts for as much as a good salary in making us happy, according to research. There is a happiness gap between the well-off and the poor that is similar in size to the one between married and unmarried Britons



Why marriage makes you as happy as earning a top salary: Study finds married couples get the same advantages as those on a high wage

• Marriage counts for as much as top salary in making us happy, says study
• Happiness gap between well-off and poor similar to married and unmarried
• Findings came in latest stage of project to measure wellbeing of the nation
• To get same advantages from money as being married, an individual would have to advance from bottom of income table to a salary of around £57,000

Marriage counts for as much as a good salary in making us happy, according to research.

 

A study found there is a happiness gap between the well-off and the poor which is similar in size to the one between married and unmarried Britons.

 

The findings came in the latest stage of a project to measure the happiness and wellbeing of the nation carried out by the UK Office for National Statistics.

 The report compared income and spending levels to the public’s satisfaction with life, whether people think life is worthwhile, how happy people feel, and whether they are anxious.

 

The results showed that in order to get the same advantages from money as being married, an individual would have to advance from the bottom fifth of the income table, earning around £16,000, into the top fifth, where salaries are around £57,000

  

BENEFITS LINKED TO UNHAPPINESS

• The more families rely on state handouts to top up their income, the less likely they are to be happy, according to the latest official report on the nation’s wellbeing.
• Dependence on welfare payments also makes men and women more anxious, the Office for National Statistics said.
• According to the report, levels of wellbeing depend not only on size of household income and spending, but where the money comes from.
• The ONS said: ‘For men, as the proportion of household income coming from cash benefits rises, life satisfaction, sense that what they do in life is worthwhile, and happiness, all fall, and anxiety rises.’ 
• The effect was present among women as well, but was less marked, the report said.