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Photo: Petra
UK News

British pupils more unhappy than their international peers

Those are just three of 37 countries ranked above our nation for young people's life satisfaction.

The figures are contained in a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The study - which puts the UK 38th out of 48 countries - is based on the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests, which are taken by 15 year-olds around the world.

It found that, on a scale of one to 10, British pupils had an average satisfaction of 6.98, compared with the OECD average of 7.31.

Only 28% of UK students were "very satisfied" with life - short of the 34% OECD average.

But, Jason Royce from the Christian charity, the Souster Youth Trust has told Premier it's not as bad as it seems:

"Our sense of happiness is a fluctuating thing. We need to take the bullying and anxiety out of that, but seven out of ten isn't bad.

"We (the Souster Youth Trust) talk a lot about highs and lows and that the good days stand in contrast to the bad ones and we do have a mix of good and bad days."

He went on: "There's something in the British psyche to lead us to being more pessimistic."

He also blames the media for their projections of the perfect body and utopian lifestyles: "When we constantly have the media images of people looking their best and living the best possible life and we live our life in comparison to that we are not going to come out too well."

But the reported lack of happiness teenagers have in British schools is offset by their high ambitions, the report found.

The vast majority of pupils (90%) claimed they wanted to be the best in their every endeavour, dwarfing the 65% international average.

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