Religiously affiliated people in the UK are more likely than atheists to be happy, optimistic about their future and confident of dealing with life’s challenges , according to a new survey.

The evidence suggests that religious and spiritual practice can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing, says the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL), a newly launched think-tank in London. 

Sampling just over 2,000 adults - around a third of whom did not believe in a higher spiritual being - it found that 74 per cent of the religiously affiliated said they were happy, compared to 52 per cent of the atheists.

Whereas 74 per cent of the religiously affiliated felt confident in dealing with life’s challenges, that dropped to 56 per cent of the atheists.

Nearly three-quarters of the religiously affiliated believed they had high self-control (74 per cent), compared with 51 per cent of atheists.

Fewer than half of atheists were optimistic about their future (42 per cent), whereas that rose to 69 per cent for the religiously affiliated.

 Rakib Ehsan, author of the report Keep the Faith: Mental Health in the UK and senior research associate of the new institute, commented, “The evidence suggests that religiosity and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health and psychological wellbeing in 21st-century Britain.”

 Those who regularly attended religious services were “notably more likely to report positive psychological wellbeing and mental health outcomes when compared to those who either occasionally or never attend such services,” he found.

In terms of resilience and wellbeing, greater secularisation in the UK had left people “ more exposed and vulnerable,” he suggested. 

It was time for policy-makers “to unlock the potential of faith, religion and spirituality and harness it in our local communities,” Dr Ehsan concluded.