Britain bucks global happiness index trend with poll revealing non religious people in the UK have higher sense of wellbeing than the faithful

The UK is bucking a global trend as research finds non-religious Britons are happier than religious ones.

New research by pollsters Gallup showed that countries with higher levels of religion generally saw people of faith reporting higher levels of happiness, but in the UK - classed as a 'less religious' country - the opposite is true.

The research found that around the world people who see religion as important to their daily lives score more highly on key wellbeing indexes within their own country compared to those who do not.

Just four countries, all in Europe, buck this trend: the UK, France, Spain and Luxembourg.

Gallup researchers used a 'positive experience index' to score individuals on a scale of 0 to 100, with questions including 'Did you feel well-rested yesterday?' and 'Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?'.

In less religious countries, classed as those in which less than 65 percent of the population see religion as an important part of their everyday life, those who are religious scored 70.8, compared with 70.2 for the non-religious.

But in the UK religious people had a positive experience score of 72.7 - while non-religious had a score of 75.4.

A second index, the 'social life index', saw a similar trend. In less religious countries religious people scored 83.4 compared to 83.2 for those without a faith, while in the UK non-religious people scored 87.5 to religious people's 86.1.

There was also a clear trend which showed people in less religious countries had a higher positive experience score than those in more religious ones. 

In the most religious countries, where 90 percent or more people say religion is important in their everyday lives, the positive experience index was 58.7 for the non-religious and 72.1 for the religious.

This was reflected in the social life index too, with scores of 64.3 and 72.1 respectively.

The research also found that those living in less religious countries were less likely to feel like they were 'suffering' and more likely to believe they were 'thriving'. 

Despite this the religious charity behind the research, Radiant Foundation, claimed that spirituality should be incorporated in a 'list of tools' given to people struggling with their mental health.

The report conclusion stated that 'challenges' such as 'declining religiosity in many nations and reluctance to bring faith and faith‑based solutions into areas of society where they typically have not been seen, such as government programs and workplaces' would need to be overcome.