According to the 2017 Halifax Rural Areas Quality of Life Survey, The Orkney Islands enjoy the best quality of life of any rural area in Great Britain.
The Orkney Islands scores strongly in employment rate, average earnings and average spend per pupil on education, as well as low anxiety levels, crime rates, and high scores in factors related to well-being and leisure. Although there is an abundance of space, Orkneys has some of the smallest houses in Britain with an average of 4.5 habitable rooms per home.
Wychavon second most desirable place to live
The inhabitants of Wychavon in Worcestershire have the second best quality of life, scoring well on a number of measures, with a high average male and female life expectancy of – 81.2 years and 84.5 years respectively, and 95% of adults report themselves to be in good health.
Wychavon residents have some of the biggest homes in rural Great Britain with an average of 6.1 habitable rooms of which 98% have central heating and 92% of all houses have superfast broadband.
Wychavon also does well on low levels of CO2 emissions (1.8 tonnes of CO2 per household), a high employment rate (79%) and those in full-time employment typically enjoying high weekly average earnings (£609).
School performance is also strong with 65% of 15+ year-olds achieving five or more GCSE results at grades A-C. Adults of Wychavon are amongst the happiest in Great Britain with a high level of life satisfaction.
Derbyshire Dales, Hambleton and Purbeck in Dorset complete the top five – all performing well in the Personal Well-Being Survey as well as long male and female life expectancy.
Martin Ellis, economist at Halifax, said: “With one of the lowest population densities and traffic levels in Scotland, some of the most stunning scenery in the British Isles and the lowest levels of anxiety and highest life satisfaction ratings, the Orkneys offer a quality of life unmatched elsewhere in rural Britain.
While the employment rate is significantly higher than the national average, there is more and more emphasis being placed on achieving a good work-life balance. The 2017 Rural Quality of Life Survey includes a leisure category for the first time. This shows that residents in the Orkneys have a good choice of pubs from which to choose.
Rural areas in the South tend to receive higher ratings for weekly earnings, the weather, health, and life expectancy, while in the rural north areas score well on education in terms of grades and smaller class sizes, lower house prices in relation to earnings, and both lower traffic flows and population densities.”
