The survey involving 1,994 people showed that high earners, with a salary above 30,000 pounds a year - were the happiest with an 80 per cent rate of optimism.

Middle income group earning between 17,500 pounds to 29,999 pounds - had a 69 per cent rate of happiness and those on less than 17,500 pounds had a 66 per cent rate of optimisms

The report says: "The fieldwork was completed before the intensification of the banking crisis in September and October 2008."

"The differences were quite a stark finding. They show how people's position in society, by income, education or social class, does have a massive impact on how they are feeling about things like health and so on," the Telegraph quoted Alex Christopoulos, author of the report, as saying.

He said: "These sorts of surveys tend to stay fairly stable... but in August [the economic outlook] was less bad than it is now. In a sense you need to have optimism for your mental health."

"If you get too pessimistic about the credit crunch it is bad. If we are on the cusp of a recession, it's difficult for people to say whether it's going to go on for a long time," he added.

Source: ANI
SRM