The study Measuring National Well-being: Life in the UK 2012 found that while Britain's GDP tumbled in 2009/9 our life satisfaction actually increased. And despite falling in real-terms waged employment has held up remarkably since the beginning of the recession
The study measured people's social, environmental and economic happiness alongside the traditional measure of GDP and has provided a complete snapshot of life in Britain for the first time.
Speaking at the launch of the study, Lord Richard Layard from the London School of Economics said: "Of course income matters but it's clearly not the only thing that matters."
The ONS study cited other factors such as health, family relationships and the environment as keeping us reasonably happy even when the financial situation is deteriorating.
Also speaking at the launch, Lord Gus O'Donnell, the former cabinet secretary and chair of the Government's wellbeing commission, said mental health problems are one of the biggest issues affecting the UK's happiness. He claimed poor mental health can reduce life expectancy at the same rate as smoking.
O'Donnell said he hoped the data, which will be collected annually, could be used to revolutionise the future of policy making:
"We need to come up with some guidance on how to turn these ideas into practical policy conclusions.
"It will revolutionise public policy, not just in the UK but globally. We have the potential to transform the way people talk about this."
Prime minister, David Cameron launched the ONS's Measuring National Wellbeing programme in November 2010 after deciding that the Government needed to be informed not only on economic progress but also on public wellbeing. New data will be collected each year and taken into account alongside traditional economic measures of prosperity.
