Domain review
Trust and Wellbeing
Measures legitimacy, cohesion and human wellbeing.
Trust and Wellbeing is currently rated Strained. The domain score is driven primarily by Chronic loneliness, Life satisfaction and Anxiety. Data confidence is medium across its component metrics.
Component indicators
Trust and Wellbeing · Metrics
Life satisfaction
2023
Verified official value from ONS (wellbeing-quarterly/life-satisfaction), accessed 2026-08-13.
Evidence file
Life satisfaction
Latest reading
2023
Scoring breakdown
Source
UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard
- Update frequency
- Quarterly/Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- wellbeing-quarterly/life-satisfaction
- Frequency
- quarterly→annual (ONS beta API)
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
Self-reported subjective measure; mean scores compress distributional differences and the 0–10 scale is not interval-calibrated across respondents.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (wellbeing-quarterly/life-satisfaction), accessed 2026-08-13.
Anxiety
2023
Verified official value from ONS (wellbeing-quarterly/anxiety), accessed 2026-08-13.
Evidence file
Anxiety
Latest reading
2023
Scoring breakdown
Source
UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard
- Update frequency
- Quarterly/Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- wellbeing-quarterly/anxiety
- Frequency
- quarterly→annual (ONS beta API)
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
Headline mean anxiety scores mask large variation by age, gender and deprivation; the well-being module question wording creates priming effects that vary with question context.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (wellbeing-quarterly/anxiety), accessed 2026-08-13.
Chronic loneliness
May 2026
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (OPN chronic loneliness), accessed 2026-06-23.
Evidence file
Chronic loneliness
Latest reading
May 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Opinions and Lifestyle Survey
- Update frequency
- Periodic
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey)
- Series ID
- OPN chronic loneliness
- Frequency
- periodic
- Accessed
- 23 June 2026
Known weakness
ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a small quota sample with periodic fieldwork; the loneliness question is not asked consistently, limiting time-series continuity.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (OPN chronic loneliness), accessed 2026-06-23.
Trust in national government
March 2026
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (trust in national government), accessed 2026-06-23.
Evidence file
Trust in national government
Latest reading
March 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Trust in government, UK
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey)
- Series ID
- trust in national government
- Frequency
- periodic
- Accessed
- 23 June 2026
Known weakness
Annual survey data; trust measures are highly sensitive to current political events and recent scandals at the time of fieldwork, reducing reliability as a structural trend indicator.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (trust in national government), accessed 2026-06-23.
Regular formal volunteering
2024/25
Verified official value from DCMS (formal volunteering at least monthly, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Evidence file
Regular formal volunteering
Latest reading
2024/25
Scoring breakdown
Source
Community Life Survey
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- DCMS
- Series ID
- formal volunteering at least monthly, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
Community Life Survey is a medium-sized annual survey; volunteering rates are affected by economic conditions that change participation without reflecting structural social change.
Notes
Verified official value from DCMS (formal volunteering at least monthly, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Feeling safe after dark
YE Mar 2025
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_csew), accessed 2026-07-07.
Evidence file
Feeling safe after dark
Latest reading
YE Mar 2025
Scoring breakdown
Source
Crime Survey for England and Wales
- Update frequency
- Quarterly
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- ons_csew
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 7 July 2026
Known weakness
England & Wales; the CSEW question has multiple breaks (2012/13 sub-sample move, 2016/17 omission, 2020-22 COVID suspension), so it is not a clean trend. ONS discontinued the standalone perceptions article; the figure is corroborated via the CSEW.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_csew), accessed 2026-07-07.
Neighbourhood belonging
2024/25
Verified official value from Department for Culture, Media and Sport (dcms_community_life), accessed 2026-06-14.
Evidence file
Neighbourhood belonging
Latest reading
2024/25
Scoring breakdown
Source
Community Life Survey
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- Series ID
- dcms_community_life
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 14 June 2026
Known weakness
England; the Community Life Survey has a 2016-2020 gap in published tables and a 2020/21 collection-mode change.
Notes
Verified official value from Department for Culture, Media and Sport (dcms_community_life), accessed 2026-06-14.
Historical values
Metric trends
Historical values
Life satisfaction
Latest
7.5mean score, 0–10Life satisfaction · mean score, 0–10 · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Anxiety
Latest
3.1mean score, 0–10 (higher = more anxious)Anxiety · mean score, 0–10 (higher = more anxious) · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Chronic loneliness
Latest
8% adults often or always lonelyChronic loneliness · % adults often or always lonely · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Trust in national government
Latest
29.2% reporting trustTrust in national government · % reporting trust · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Regular formal volunteering
Latest
17% adults volunteering at least monthlyRegular formal volunteering · % adults volunteering at least monthly · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Feeling safe after dark
Latest
78.4% of adults feeling safe walking alone after darkFeeling safe after dark · % of adults feeling safe walking alone after dark · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Neighbourhood belonging
Latest
62% of adults who feel they belong to their neighbourhoodNeighbourhood belonging · % of adults who feel they belong to their neighbourhood · reported values, not stress scores.
Data provenance
Sources for this domain
| Organisation | Dataset | Type | Frequency | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office for National Statistics | UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard | Official | Quarterly/Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Opinions and Lifestyle Survey | Survey | Periodic | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Trust in government, UK | Survey | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Community Life Survey | Survey | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Crime Survey for England and Wales | Survey | Quarterly | Source ↗ |
How the Trust and Wellbeing domain is scored
The domain score is the median of the 7 component metric stress scores. Using the median reduces sensitivity to a single anomalous metric.
Each metric stress score is calculated as:
metric_stress = clamp(0.6 × level_score + 0.3 × trend_score + 0.1 × volatility_score, 0, 100)The Trust and Wellbeing domain carries a weight of 6% in the national index. Full methodology: methodology page.
International context · vs OECD
Life satisfaction (0–10, Cantril ladder)
Around the OECD average; the UK ranks ~20th globally.
World Happiness Report 2024 / OECD How's Life? ↗ · 2021–2023 · context only, not part of the score
Sensitivity analysis
What would move this domain?
The Trust and Wellbeing domain score is most sensitive to its two highest-stress indicators. Meaningful improvement in either of the following metrics would be the most direct path to improving the domain score:
- 60
Chronic loneliness
Percentage of adults who report feeling often or always lonely, measuring the depth of social isolation across the population.
- 58
Life satisfaction
Mean self-reported life satisfaction score on a 0–10 scale from the ONS Annual Population Survey well-being module.
Related analysis
Deep dives related to Trust and Wellbeing
How people rate their own lives on the ONS measures of life satisfaction, worthwhile, happiness and anxiety, by nation and local authority, and where West Lothian sits.
How connected people feel to where they live: belonging holding at 62 per cent, trust down to 40 per cent, formal volunteering fallen to 17 per cent a month, and where volunteering is strongest and weakest.