Felicidad en un mundo infeliz

For people everywhere around the world, the past year and a half has been a hard one. So hard that many people increasingly started reporting their feelings of depression and anxiety. And it’s not difficult to understand why. Due to the global pandemic of coronavirus disease and subsequent social isolation, millions of people worldwide had a tough time.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s worst effect has undoubtedly been the two million deaths in 2020 (and counting). This is a serious rise in the annual number of deaths worldwide and a substantial social welfare loss. On the other hand, those who survived had to face greater economic insecurity, disruption of their lives, as well as stress, and physical and mental health challenges.

However, according to the World Happiness Report, self-reported life satisfaction has remained steady throughout 2020, which is an outstanding finding. The report displays worldwide happiness at an average score of 5.5, which is a marginal improvement since their 2019 report. This shows that people still hope for the best outcome despite the challenges, threats of new variants, and uneven policy decisions. The vaccines are changing the game, and many are still adhering to mask mandates and physical distancing. This also shows that human’s will to be happy and prosperous despite all challenges is unbreakable.

The World Happiness Report 2020/2021

Every year, the World Happiness Report compiles data from the previous three years of surveys, but the previous year, due to the coronavirus, they’ve also included a report solely for 2020. The goal was to answer a fundamental question, “Why are there different COVID-19 death rates worldwide?” since death rates were much higher in the Americas and Europe than in Africa, East Asia, and Australasia. Some of the factors used to help account for the variation between countries were the age of the population, proximity to other infected countries, people’s trust in each other, cultural differences, and trust in public institutions.

As mentioned, mental health has been one of the casualties of the pandemic, as well as the workforce’s well-being. People have lost their jobs, their possessions, and even their houses. The report has displayed a 12% drop in overall life satisfaction and even 40% for those who felt lonely before the lockdown.

However, the World Happiness Report also displayed people’s incredible resilience in the face of coronavirus. While moods and emotions changed as the pandemic set in, people’s long-term satisfaction with life was less affected. The results were not surprising – European countries occupy nine out of ten first spots on the list of the world’s happiest countries.

According to the report, the ten happiest countries globally for the year 2021 are generally those found on the previous lists: Finland is first, Denmark second, and Switzerland third. They are followed by Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, and Luxembourg. Bu

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