Residents in the boroughs of East London are becoming increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives, a new report has suggested.

The report from the Office for National Statistics has surveyed UK residents’ overall levels of happiness, life satisfaction, worthwhile and anxiety from 2012-2016.

ONS found that residents from Croydon have some of the lowest levels of happiness in the country, with an average score of 7.24 out of 10. The report also highlighted an increase in the levels of anxiety Croydon residents face, scoring 3.12 out of 10 in 2015-16 compared to 2.89 in 2014-15.

Other boroughs in East London also fared disappointingly, with residents in Lewisham and Hackney scoring their life satisfaction at only 7.14 and 7.31 respectively.

Tower Hamlets fared slightly better than the other boroughs in terms of overall residents’ happiness, with a score of 7.48, but life satisfaction has taken a decline since 2014, with the borough dropping from 7.54.

There has been a rise in the number of people reporting mental health issues, especially regarding young people, with a report from the Higher Education Policy Institute claiming that one in 10 students have a “diagnosable mental illness”.

Stephen Buckley, head of information and mental health charity Mind, has offered some explanations as to what can contribute to issues such as anxiety and depression:

“Anxiety can be caused by childhood experiences, genetics or drugs and medication, however, there are some elements of our lifestyle that can cause anxiety too, for example, diet; working long hours; stress; pressure at home or work and money or housing worries can all contribute to anxiety.”