Happiness is localĪt an even more granular level, our emotions seem to shift day by day based on what’s happening in our local area.įor example, the report’s analysis of the social network Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter) found that on days with more new COVID-19 cases in China, Weibo users expressed lower happiness. Overall, the United States ranked 14th in happiness in the world, up from 18th in 2019, rating life overall as just over a 7 on a scale of 0-10. After peaking near the beginning of April, mental health problems gradually lessened over time before stabilizing around July. Similarly, a study in the United States saw overall improvements in people’s anxiety, depression, and stress across the middle of 2020. And over 40% of people were able to cope with the pandemic relatively well at both times. Another 21% struggled in April but improved significantly by September. These were more likely to be young people, women over 65, and people who lost work during the year. Nearly 23% had poor mental health in April and September, continuing to struggle as the pandemic dragged on. study identified several different trajectories that people followed. But studies that followed people over the summer and into the fall began to look more positive. We felt anxious, depressed, traumatized, and lonely. When researchers drilled down to look at surveys conducted over the course of 2020, some hopeful patterns emerged.Īround the beginning of lockdowns, when many of the first studies were done, the shock to our mental health was clear. While positive emotions didn’t change in 2020 compared to previous years, more people felt worried (42%, up from 38%) and sad (26%, up from 23%). The researchers also ask participants about their experiences the day before, including positive emotions (whether they smiled, laughed, or felt enjoyment) and negative ones (whether they felt worried, sad, or angry). Neither should we sacrifice human relationships at work, give up our work-life balance, or drive our children crazy at their high schools. Human relationships are extremely important and need to be given a great deal of attention-we shouldn’t sacrifice them in the name of economic efficiency. There are important lessons to be learned: You don’t have to turn your back on economics, but it’s not the be-all end-all. We should learn from the Scandinavian countries, which are uniformly happier than, for example, the U.K. As economist Baron Richard Layard of the London School of Economics explained in a Greater Good interview conducted in the wake of the 2018 World Happiness Report: The World Happiness Report ranks the happiest countries based on a simple question: on a scale of 0-10, with the best possible life for you as 10 and the worst one as 0, where do you stand?Īs in years past, the Scandinavian countries ranked as the happiest in the world, with Finland, Iceland, and Denmark at the top in 2020. The secret ingredient? Our trust in each other seems to have been crucial in weathering this crisis, both as individuals and as societies. From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being.
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