The happiest people - Telegraph All freedom-loving Britons like to think of themselves as country-livers, on their own land, with a useful but decorative garden and neighbours popping in with gifts of eggs and game. Unfortunately, 80 per cent of us live urban lives. Yet now we learn from the Office for National Statistics that our instincts were right all along and country folk are the happiest, because of all those green spaces and close-knit communities. So it is that the least happy people in the United Kingdom are the honest inhabitants of Harlow, Essex, and the happiest are those living in Fermanagh. Not only that, but six out of the 10 happiest places in the land are in Northern Ireland. Landscape, community, religious adherence, convivial drinking habits, good school examination results and a proper breakfast seem to add up to an ultra-happy Ulster.