Finland defends its coveted title as the country again world’s happiest country. This is the fourth consecutive year that the Nordic country has taken first place, even in the midst of a pandemic that shook the world.
Despite the catastrophic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in all walks of life, many of the countries with the highest ranking in the field of overall happiness have remained at the top of the list, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report, released on Friday, the day before the International Day of Happiness.
The report focuses mainly on the link between well-being and the pandemic, which has made the collection of responses from around the world particularly challenging. The editors note that, in addition to the terrible toll of 2.6 million deaths worldwide, people worldwide are also facing greater economic uncertainty, anxiety, stress, mental and physical health and a general disruption of every aspect of daily life. life. .
“This year’s happiness report has had a unique challenge in trying to understand the impact of the pandemic on subjective well-being and vice versa,” the organization behind the report said in a statement. “Of all the factors that usually support happiness, the most important for declaring COVID-19 mortality rates was people’s trust in each other and trust in their governments.”
According to the editors, this trust is one of the main reasons why Finland remains number 1.
“Surprisingly, there has not been a decline in well-being when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives,” said John Helliwell, editor. “One possible explanation is that people view COVID-19 as a general threat from outside that affects everyone and that it causes a greater sense of solidarity and compassion.”
The US ranks 14th on this list.
The report addressed one important question that separates the Americas and Europe from East Asia, Australia and Africa: “Why the different death rates from COVID-19 around the world?”
Some factors that can help calculate this variation include the population age, whether the country is an island, and the proximity to other countries with a high infection rate. Cultural differences have also played an important role, including trust in public institutions, historical knowledge of past epidemics, inequality in income, whether the leader of the country is a woman, and even whether lost wallets in the community are likely to return will be.
The report emphasizes that pandemic policies can be just as effective if citizens comply with them, as is the case in East Asia, or more freedom-oriented, as in Australia and New Zealand. The evidence showed that morale improves when governments act.
“The East Asian experience shows that strict government policies not only effectively control Covid-19, but also inflate the negative impact of daily infections on people’s happiness,” says Shun Wang, editor.
As a major victim of the pandemic and the consequent closures, mental health was also an important factor. For example, researchers found that overall mental health problems were 47% higher in the UK in May 2020, a few months into the pandemic.
“The World Happiness Report 2021 reminds us that we must strive for prosperity rather than mere prosperity, which will indeed be fleeting if we do not tackle the challenges of sustainable development much better,” said Jeffrey Sachs, co-editor of the report, said. .
As expected, the pandemic was also greatly affected wellness in the workplace, another measure of overall happiness. According to the report, the job loss during the pandemic was associated with a 12% drop in life satisfaction, which also predicts that the shift to remote work is likely to last.
“It is striking that among people who went on strike due to work or dismissal, the impact on life satisfaction was 40% worse for individuals who felt lonely at the beginning,” says Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, editor. “Our report also points to a ‘hybrid’ future of work, which strikes a balance between office life and work from home to maintain social ties, while work is flexible, both of which are key drivers of well-being in the workplace is. “
World’s happiest countries 2021
- Finland
- Iceland
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
- Sweden
- Germany
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Israel
- Australia
- Ireland
- United States
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Belgium
- United Kingdom
- China
- France