Finland has once again defended its desired title as the happiest country in the world. It is the fourth year in a row that the Nordic nation has reached the top spot, even in the midst of a pandemic that has shaken the world.
Despite the catastrophic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on all areas of life, many of the countries best ranked in terms of overall happiness have remained at the top of the list, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report. published Friday, the day before International Happiness Day.
The report focuses primarily on the relationship between welfare and the pandemic, which made it particularly difficult to gather responses from around the world. The editors point out that in addition to the terrible death toll from the 2.6 million pandemic deaths worldwide, people around the world are also facing increased economic insecurity, anxiety, stress, problems for mental and physical health and a general alteration of all aspects of daily life. .
“This year’s Happiness Report faced a unique challenge in trying to understand what effect the pandemic has had 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 to explain COVID-19 mortality rates were people’s trust in others and trust in their governments.”
This confidence, report editors say, is one of the main reasons why Finland remains number 1.
“Surprisingly, there was, on average, no decline in well-being as measured by people’s own assessment of their lives,” said editor John Helliwell. “One possible explanation is that people see COVID-19 as a common external threat that affects everyone and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and a sense of resemblance.”
The United States ranks 14th on this year’s list.
The report sought to address a key issue that separates the Americas and Europe from East Asia, Australia and Africa: “Why the different COVID-19 mortality rates around the world?”
Some of the factors that can help explain this variation are the age of the population, whether the country is an island, and proximity to other countries with high infection rates. Cultural differences also played a crucial role, including confidence in public institutions, historical knowledge of past epidemics, income inequality, whether the leader of the nation is a woman, and even whether he is likely to be return lost wallets to the community.
The report stressed that pandemic policies can be equally effective when citizens comply, as is often the case in East Asia, or more freedom-oriented ones, such as Australia and New Zealand. 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 cushion the negative impact of daily infections on people’s happiness,” said editor Shun Wang.
As a major victim of the pandemic and the resulting blockades, mental health it was also a key factor. For example, researchers found that overall mental health problems were 47% higher in the UK in May 2020, a few months after the pandemic.
“The 2021 World Happiness Report reminds us that we must aim for well-being rather than mere wealth, which will be ephemeral if we do not do a much better job of meeting the challenges of sustainable development,” the co-editor said. of the report, Jeffrey Sachs. .
As expected, the pandemic was also mostly affected labor welfare, another measure of general happiness. Job loss during the pandemic was associated with a 12% drop in life satisfaction, according to the report, which also predicts that moving to remote work is likely to last.
“Surprisingly, we find that among people who stopped working due to the situation or redundancy, the impact on life satisfaction was 40% more severe for people who felt alone to begin with. said editor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve. Our report also points to a ‘hybrid’ work future that achieves a balance between office life and work from home to maintain social connections while ensuring worker flexibility, which turn out to be two key drivers of labor welfare. “
The happiest countries in the world 2021
- Finland
- Iceland
- Denmark
- Swiss
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Germany
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Israel
- Australia
- Ireland
- United States
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Belgium
- United Kingdom
- China
- France