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State of Happiness: Young Foundation 2010A new report from London-based Young Foundation and the Improvement and Development Agency finds that promoting and influencing well-being delivers widespread economic and social benefits - especially to children.

This report sets out findings from four years of in-depth pilots - from teaching resilience to children in schools to promoting neighbourliness - with three councils in very different areas of the country: Manchester, Herfordshire and South Tyneside.

Against a background of intense pressures on public spending, the report recommends prioritising programmes that:

• Teach children resilience in schools - drawing on strong evidence that this improves academic performance and behaviour as well as employability of pupils
• Promote opportunities for neighbours to get to know each other, based on clear evidence that this tends to enhance well-being
• Provide support for isolated older people to help them create and maintain social networks, and reduce anxiety and depression
• Shift transport and economic policies to encourage lower commuting times and allow people to spend more time with their families and friends
• Reshape apprenticeships and other programmes for teenagers to strengthen psychological fitness to help young people find and keep work
• Support families so parents are happier and children are less likely to face problems at home and at school
• Promote activities that are simultaneously good for the environment and reducing CO2, and make people feel better about their lives