Life satisfaction and how content we are with our lives as a whole includes many factors such as job and career, financial security, physical health, relationships with family and friends and community support. 

Respondents to the survey were asked about their overall satisfaction with life. They were asked to rate their satisfaction levels on a scale from 0 (‘Not satisfied at all’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’). For the purpose of analysing the survey data, ‘very dissatisfied’ had a rating of 0 to 2, ‘dissatisfied’ a rating of 3 to 5, ‘satisifed’ a rating of 6 to 8 and ‘very satisfied had a rating of 9 to 10.

At an overall level, almost nine in ten (89.2%) are satisfied or very satisfied with their life as a whole. Just short of three in ten (29.8%) were very satisfied with life while a further six in ten (59.3%) were satisfied with their life. One in nine were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied with their life – 9.2% were dissatisfied while 1.6% were very dissatisfied with their life. See Table 3.1.

Over nine in ten (91.6%) persons who were working satisfied or very satisfied with their life, compared with just over four in five (81.9%) of those who were unemployed at the time of interview. See Table 3.1.

Respondents were asked for their self-perceived health status. Of those who were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with life, almost one in six (14.8%) were in very poor health (bad or very bad with a rating of 0 to 5 on a scale of 0 to 10), compared with just 1.5% of those satisfied or very satisfied with life. One third (33.4%) of those discontented in life had a self-perceived health status of fair. See Table 3.2 and Figure 3.1.

Further scrutiny of the data shows that the ability to make ends meet also impacts significantly on life satisfaction. Nearly six in ten (58.2%) struggled to make ends meet. Just over a quarter (25.2%) of persons dissatisfied with life had difficulty or great difficulty making ends meet, while a further one third (33%) of people dissatisfied with their life, had difficulties. By comparison, less than one in thirteen (7.7%) of those contented with life had difficulty or great difficulty making ends meet while less than one in five (19.6%) had some difficulty. See table 3.2.

The survey results show that support form family, friends and neighbours is a key factor in overall life satisfaction. Over one in five (21.2%) people who get no support or help from family are very dissatisfied with their life. Similarly, one in six (16%) respondents who say that they get no support from friends are very unhappy with life, while 6.3% of persons who get no support from neighbours are very dissatisfied with their life. See Table 3.3 and Figure 3.3.

Over one quarter of workers (26.3%) find it hard to make ends meet. Nearly one in five (19.8%) have some difficulty making ends meet, while over one in sixteen (6.6%) struggle (with difficulty/great difficulty) to make ends meet. See Table 3.4.

Part-time workers were nearly twice as likely to find it hard to make ends meet - 40.5% compared with over two in ten full-time workers (22.6%). This was particularly so for those with less service. Almost half (48.9%) of part-time workers with less than five years’ service found it difficult to make ends meet, compared with just over two in ten (21.2%) of their full-time equivalents. Similarly, four in ten (39.9%) part-time workers with more service (5 to 10 years with their current employer), compared with less than three in ten (28.6%) full-time employees with similar length of service. See Table 3.4 and Figures 3.4 and 3.5.

Further scrutiny of the data shows that for those who had a verbal contract of employment, one third (33.2%) found it difficult/very difficult to make ends meet, compared with less than one quarter (24.8%) of workers with a written contract of employment. See Table 3.4.