The recent lifestyles report by the consumer spending analyst Mintel highlighted that we are becoming a nation of big spenders, with consumer spending last year at a record level of £1trillion.

The figures are really quite astonishing. Apparently, the average household spends £37,000 a year on consumer goods, an increase of 43 per cent in the last ten years.

Ten years ago, we bought white goods, such as freezers and dishwashers, now we buy brown goods such as flat-screen TVs, DVDs and stereos, £5.8bn worth in fact, an increase of 642 per cent since 1995.

The home computer has attracted the biggest increase in spending, an increase of 695 per cent in ten years.

Similarly, the amount spent on cars, luxury furniture and holidays has soared.

According to Mintel's director of research, we are living in a society of "instant gratification".

The figures, however, contain their own warning.

Apart from the fact that a large proportion of the population is simply excluded from the "average" lifestyle, we also know that average household expenditure comfortably exceeds average earnings, so we see the importance of debt to finance consumer spending.

Such dependence reminds me of the observation of Dickens' Mr Micawber - income exceeds expenditure, result happiness; expenditure exceeds income, result misery.

It is perhaps unsurprising that happiness is more than ever being subjected to academic research and is also the subject of a current BBC2 series, The Happiness Formula, which reported the findings of surveys showing that we are less happy now than in the 1950s, despite the fact we are three times richer.

This is consistent with the findings of Professor Richard Layard, of the London School of Economics. His extensive research has led him to conclude that, in the past 50 years people have not become happier, despite a huge increase in consumption.

People in the West have, in general, become much richer, work less, have longer holidays, travel more, live longer and are healthier - but they are not happier.

The reasons are varied, but two key ones concern expectations (the more we have, the more we take it for granted and the more we want) and comparisons with others (if others get better off, the more we need in order to feel as good as before).

Despite perhaps living in a society of "instant gratification", it seems less and less of us are truly happy. This has serious policy implications for governments, and serious implications for us as individuals.