More and more politicians are starting to recognise that happiness rather than wealth might be a better way to measure their countries’ success. But with coronavirus causing significant disruption to people’s lives worldwide, what can we expect to happen to global happiness in the wake of the pandemic?
To answer that question, we need to understand what factors influence happiness, and what impact the coronavirus is likely to have on these. Happiness can be influenced by a number of things, but research suggests health is the most important. States with populations enjoying high levels of mental and physical health have significantly higher levels of collective happiness than those with poorer health outcomes.
On top of that, other factors that influence happiness also tend to influence health, underlining the idea that health and happiness go together. And this suggests that the pandemic is likely to have a significant effect on happiness around the world.
Happiness and life expectancy in 133 countries. Data taken from the World Happiness Report. Author provided
The above graph illustrates the positive relationship between happiness and health. Using data from 133 countries taken from the World Happiness Report 2020, the graph shows that countries where people that rate their quality of life more highly out of ten are more likely to have higher average lifespans (longevity).
Other factors that influence happiness are also covered in the World Happiness Report. These include wealth (GDP per capita), perceptions of social support, freedom to make life choices, degree of democracy, extent of income inequality across a country’s population, and quality of the environment. Of these, some have a significant effect on happiness. Those that do hav ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
