Dr. Luis Angeles of the University of Glasgow said the finding challenges previous research that increasing numbers of children do not make people any happier, and in some cases the more children people have, the less satisfied they are with their lives. This has been attributed to the fact that raising children involves a lot of hard work for only a few occasional rewards.

However, Angeles found when asked about the most important things in their lives, most people place their children near or even at the top of their list.

Angeles' analysis of the relationship between having children and life satisfaction takes into account the role of individual characteristics, including marital status, gender, age, income and education.

The study, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, found that for married people of all ages and married women in particular, children increase life satisfaction and life satisfaction goes up with the number of children in the household.

However, negative experiences in raising children are reported by people who are separated, living as a couple, or single, having never been married.