People living in the borough of Colchester are the unhappiest in Essex, according to new data.

Essex’s happiest and unhappiest places to live have been revealed using wellbeing data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS used the results of a national survey, which asked people to rate their level of happiness during the 12 months up to March 2022 to give district and borough council areas an average figure.

People were asked to rate their life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety levels out of 10.

Colchester scored the lowest across Essex in two of the categories.

The borough scored 7.3 for life satisfaction and 6.8 for happiness.

By comparison, Tendring scored 7.6 for life satisfaction, Braintree 7.8 and Maldon 7.4.

Tendring scored 7.5 for happiness, Braintree 7.7 and Maldon 7.2.