China climbs well-being ranks whilst UK falls

China has fast growing levels of well-being, whilst UK citizens have growing concerns.

Students practicing their ball skills in Wuzhi county, central China's Henan Province. [Photo: Xinhua]

That's according to research by Cigna Global Health Benefits, who publish an annual ranking of worldwide well-being. 

China has climbed to third position in this year's list, just behind India and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the UK, which was in third position in 2015 and fifth position last year, has fallen to eighth in 2017.

This puts the United Kingdom below the three front runners, as well as Spain, the UAE, Indonesia and New Zealand.

But what does the research actually show?

Well, it covers five areas of well-being - health, family and social lives, finances and work.

In China, citizens apparently have positive feelings across these metrics.

In the UK, however, it's mainly financial concerns that are having an impact on people's well-being.

This makes sense - there's a growing sense of unease in Great Britain about the potential impact of Brexit. It's widely accepted that leaving the European Union will bring economic uncertainty - at best - for the short term at least.

There are also an increasing number of concerns about house prices, which are at record highs, and very high levels of personal debt.