Happiness Is More Important Than Money Say Brits In New Survey - What Do You Think?

Phew: Happiness Is More Important Than Money Say Most Brits
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Although it can feel like most of our lives revolve around earning money to maintain our lifestyle - with some of us under the assumption we'd be happier if we had more of the green stuff - here's a nice reminder that we haven't turned into workaholic drones.

According to a new survey by charity Action for Happiness, a whopping 87% of us would choose happiness and wellbeing over money.

In light of the news that five of the richest families in Britain have the collective money of 20% of the poorest Brits may be hard to swallow, but the survey was found to be consistent across all ages, social classes and regions.

So what's makes us happy?

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Relationships - whether it's your partner or your family - was the most important for personal happiness, closely followed by health. Money came third - but there was a significant gulf between health (71%) and finances (41%).

It was also reassuring to see that things like possessions and appearance were far down the scale of what made people happy - with only 4% mentioning these.

Commenting on results, Action for Happiness director, Dr Mark Williamson said: "The economy dominates our political and social discussions, but this survey shows that happiness is more important to people. The vast majority of people would prefer Britain to be happier rather than richer. So we need to spend less time focusing on the size of the economy and more time focusing on how to help people live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives."

Participants were also asked what they thought would make the biggest difference to happiness levels around Britain. 45% felt that more equality between the rich and poor was important, closely followed by an improvement in health services and the NHS.

Co-founder of Action for Happiness, Lord Richard Layard added: "Our national priorities are clearly out of touch with what really matters to people. Our top priority should be people's overall happiness and wellbeing. Above all, we should be giving much more attention to mental health, supporting positive family and community relationships and creating a more trusting society."

Action for Happiness want you to tweet pictures of what makes you happy with the hashtag #happinessday ahead of International Happiness Day on 20 March. Get involved!