Watford the happiest place in the East of England and Hertfordshire, new data has suggested.

And the town is the 14th happiest place in the UK, according to the Office for National statistics (ONS).

An ONS survey asked people aged 16 and over across the UK to rate four areas of their personal wellbeing for 2018/19.

Watford scored an average happiness score of 8.02 after people gave their answers on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is “not at all” and 10 is “completely”.

This means the town was the only place to have an average score of eight or above in Hertfordshire and the East of England region.

Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said: “It’s no surprise to me that our town has been rated so highly. Watford is a great place to live with fantastic parks, an incredibly strong sense of community and people who care for one another.

“We have made it a priority to invest in the things that are important to people like our green spaces, the town centre and local theatres to ensure that this continues to be a place that people love to live in and are proud to call home.”

Three Rivers was not far behind, scoring an average happiness rating of 7.96, while Hertsmere scored 7.53, Dacorum 7.49 and St Albans 7.80.

According to the data the least happiest place in the East of England is Norwich, having an average score of 7.15 for 2018/19.