The pandemic made 2020 a tough year for everyone. Not only did it cause 2 million deaths worldwide, but it also affected the economy and personal lives of people, inducing stress and poised challenges to mental and physical health. Despite the obstacles, some countries were able to recover and the World Happiness Report 2021 ranks Finland as the number one happiest country in the world for the fourth time.
WHR’s findings are based on the relationship between well-being and COVID-19. Its objective was to look at how it affected people’s lives and describe and evaluate how each country’s governments handled the pandemic. As vaccines are being distributed, people are starting to become hopeful for the future while continuing to follow health protocols like wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
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To gauge the happiness in each country, they needed to factor the people’s trust in each other and confidence in their governments. American economist Jeffrey Sachs states that there is a lot to learn from the pandemic and that we need to be efficient in our actions. “The World Happiness Report 2021 reminds us that we must aim for well-being rather than mere wealth, which will be fleeting indeed if we don’t do a much better job of addressing the challenges of sustainable development.”
This is based on the survey conducted by the Gallup World Poll, and the results are not too far from the previous years. John Helliwell, Canadian economist and Editor of the WHR explains that a possible factor why Finns fared well during the pandemic is because “people see COVID-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling.
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