The happiest people in the UK live in the Western Isles, according to a major new survey.

Orkney, the Highlands and Shetland also featured at the top of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) poll.

At the other end of the scale, Liverpool, north Manchester, Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and Corby in Northamptonshire were named the saddest places in the UK.

The three-year study which included more than 300,000 people also found middle-aged people are least happy.

People were asked questions like "Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?" and asked to rate their feelings from zero to ten.

The average response from people in the Western Isles was 8.08, in contrast to an average of 6.96 from Liverpudlians.