LIFE in modern-day Britain is seemingly no more content than it was during some of the harshest periods of post-war austerity according to an official Government book published today.

It attempts to provide the world at large with a snapshot picture of day to day living in the UK.

Certainly we can expect to live longer and are much more financially secure than ever before, but are we happier?

While in 1946 Britons were mostly concerned over rationing and other post-war restrictions, today we live in an age of computers, drugs, single parent families, cars, and 24-hour television.

The nation's official yearbook marks its 50th edition today (it first appeared in 1947, but has not been an annual publication). Significantly, this year's explains how Scotland will once again have its own Parliament after almost 300 years and gives details of how it will work.

Back in 1946 we were more concerned about rationing. People were entitled to two pints of milk a week, meat worth 1s 4d (less than 7p), and only 14 oz of sweets a month. Expectant mothers could get seven pints of milk and an extra half-ration of meat. It was a much healthier diet than today's fare from fast food outlets.

Nobody then could have predicted how the consumer society would take off.

Going over the various editions of the UK's official yearbook we learn that while in 1956 there were only 3,750,000 cars licensed for use (and 1,250,000 motorbikes) car ownership had multiplied threefold within ten years before their number soared to 22 million by 1996. During the same period the number of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds on the road has dropped to a mere 739,000.

Road deaths in the mid sixties were recorded at 8000 a year. The introduction of the 70 mph limit together with other measures have cut that statistic to 3500.

In June 1953 the book on Britain was boasting that more than one household in six had a television set. Say no more. There has also been a significant change in shopping patterns.

In 1947 we were into: wild rabbits (before skinning); lard; condensed milk; back-lacing corsets; lamp oil; iron bedsteads; air mattresses; gramophone records; mangles for the washing; distemper to paint the walls; a pound of soda; and a wireless licence.

In 1997 our priorities seem to be: burgers; fromage frais; ethnic carry-outs; tracksuit bottoms; smoke alarms; microwave ovens; Internet subscriptions; contact lenses; portable CD players; computer games; unleaded petrol; and private medicine.

The lists were drawn up by Mr Nigel Pearce, editor of Britain 1999, who has studied all the records. Among the changes he charts are the advances in medicine.

In 1945 the three most frequently notified infectious diseases were scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the National Health Service and Mr Pearce demonstrates how the medical battle has now moved to a different front to tackle cancer, in particular.

Those who previously might have died have been saved by modern medicines.

Life expectancy is increasing by roughly two years for every decade. If you are male that means you can hopefully live beyond 74. If you are a woman then you have every chance of reaching your eighties.

That is certainly a worry for the Government. For while the numbers of old people living longer is on the increase, the number of young people being born who might have been expected to support them in their old age is on the decrease.

Between 1971 and 1996 the proportion of those aged 65 and over rose from 14% to 16%.

At the same time the proportion of young people aged under 16 fell from 25% to 21%.

In 1997 there were 725,800 live births in the UK, roughly 12.3 for every 1000 persons living in the country. ''This relatively low birth rate reflects a preference for smaller families than in the past,'' Britain 1999 says. ''Many women are postponing having children, and there has been an increase in the average of women giving birth from 26.8 years in 1981 to 28.8 years in 1997.''

Also in 1997, 37% of births were outwith marriage - five times the level in 1966.

Alongside the life or death statistics, we are reminded of some of the more light-hearted things people get up to, even in 1999.

Readers are introduced, for example, to cheese-rolling down Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire - banned by the local authority last year because too many of those taking part suffered broken bones.

They are also told about the ancient tradition of Burning the Clavie performed at Burghead, Morayshire on January 11.

This tradition, to do with herring fishing, involves carrying a tar-barrel that is set alight and toted around the boundaries of the old town.

While enormous changes have taken place over the past five decades, some things stay the same.

Britain 1999: The official yearbook of the United Kingdom, The Stationery Office, #35.