When it comes to education, the more the happier. People with less than a primary school education logged in at 6.48, while those with an advanced degree ranked their happiness at 6.98.

Generally speaking, urbanites felt a bit happier (6.67) than their counterparts in rural areas (6.54), the survey found.

People reporting unhappy families were usually migrants, victims of natural disasters or living in single-parent families.

"The family is an important determinant of happiness. Therefore the government should intensify its policies and measures supporting families and facilitating family development," Yao said on Friday.

Such measures should include housing, education, healthcare, insurance and elderly care, said Wang Guangzhou, a researcher at the academy's Population and Labor Economics Institute.

As economic growth slows, greater attention should be paid to underprivileged groups, particularly young bachelors who hold rural hukou, or residence permits, he said.

Yao agreed. "Family happiness concerns national stability, and the government should heed that and ensure equity, particularly in education and healthcare, to help the left-behind develop and grow," he said.

Family happiness is determined by a basket of factors such as health, education, age, gender, marital status and public issues, he said.

The survey found that emerging issues－environmental pollution and food safety crises, for example－seriously erode family happiness. Those who have better tolerance for pollution reported happier lives than those with low tolerance, it said.

For food safety, about one-third of respondents said they had purchased unsafe food. Lack of easy access to consumer protection channels－the ability to lodge a complaint－meant that little could be done about it, the survey said.

According to Wang, the situation will change for better on the heels of the new food safety law that was enacted in October.