Brits' happiness to be tracked

Britain will introduce a "happiness index" to gauge its population's psychological and environmental wellbeing, a government source told the Guardian.

Prime Minister David Cameron will ask the Office of National Statistics to prepare methods which will measure the "general wellbeing" despite reservations about the timing.

Cameron is expected to put the index at the heart of future policy-making, but is in danger of receiving unwelcome results after the Government's deep cuts to the public sector.