In a year in which loved ones, jobs and individual freedoms were lost in the pandemic, it would not be surprising if people around the world experience greater dissatisfaction with their lives.
While mental health has declined in many countries, however, there has been a surprising resistance in the way people judge their lives in general, according to this year’s World Happiness Report.
The happiest country in the world also remained the same, as Finland reached its peak for the fourth consecutive year. Denmark was second and Switzerland third. Iceland and the Netherlands completed the top five, while the United States was 19th on the list.
Finland, a small Scandinavian country with a population of about 5.5 million, has used past victories to promote tourism and its scenic beauty.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, it performed relatively well during the pandemic compared to other European countries, with 805 total deaths.
The report consistently placed high on the list of measures of mutual trust that helped protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.
“For the 4th year in a row, #Finland is the happiest country in the world,” tweeted the Finnish Embassy in the United States on Friday. “Our #happiness stems from a balanced everyday life, supported by good governance, trust, well-being and equality. The pandemic has not changed this long-standing foundation.”
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The annual happiness ranking is based on the evaluation of the citizens of their own lives. The study uses data from the Gallup World Poll, in which respondents are asked to rate their lives as a whole by proposing a ladder, with the best possible life for them as 10 and the worst possible as 0.
This year’s report looked specifically at the link between wellness and Covid-19. It also seeks to assess how governments around the world deal with the coronavirus and to explain why some countries may have fared better than others.
According to the study, which is a reflection of the global nature of the pandemic and its widespread resilience, Covid-19 has led to only modest changes in the overall rankings of the country’s happiness, according to the study, which is a publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. .
“Surprisingly, on average, there was no decline in well-being when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives,” said John Helliwell, an editor of the report and a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Canada , said.
“One possible explanation is that people see Covid-19 as a general threat from the outside that affects everyone and that it has a greater sense of solidarity and compassion,” he added.
While people’s life satisfaction may not have been dramatically affected by Covid-19, emotions and mental health did change during the first year of the pandemic. The report this year paid more attention to specific daily emotions to track the impact of the pandemic on various aspects of life.
The study, for example, found that there was an increase of about 10 percent in the number of people who said they were worried or sad the day before.
It is also estimated that there was a “large and immediate” decline in mental health in many countries when the pandemic first struck. The average mental health later improved, but did not recover to where it started, he added.
The report notes that the fact that you were unable to work during the pandemic also had a negative impact on well-being, and that unemployment is accompanied by a 12% decrease in life satisfaction.
Like everything else, the researchers’ work was also affected by the pandemic.
Gallup was unable to conduct interviews previously used for more than 75 percent of the countries surveyed. The shift to telephone surveys could change the pool of respondents in some countries, the report said.
One question the report grapples with is why there have been so many deaths around the world. Although a myriad of other reasons are noted, trust is identified as an important factor in helping governments protect their people from the pandemic.
Countries where people expected their lost wallets to be returned by neighbors or strangers associated with far fewer deaths.
In East Asia, among others, evidence also showed that the well-being of people improved when the government acted.
“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,” said Shun Wang, an editor of the report.
