PDid we have to be happy in the time of Covid-19? The question seems cynical as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the world after having officially killed 2.8 million people. However, it has arisen since happiness is an object of study for economists, and well-being has become an element to assess the success or failure of a policy. The question also has the merit of emerging from a polarized debate for a year on two concerns: the damage of the pandemic on public health and economic activity.
Basically, what do men and women feel in a context as anxiety-provoking as it is unprecedented for them? The hunt for happiness is a difficult quest, as is the approach to the concept of happiness. The United Nations, which dedicates March 20 to it as an “International Day”, have not given up on providing a comprehensive response each year with the publication of the World Happiness report. Carried out with the Gallup Institute in 149 countries (95 this year due to Covid-19), by crossing the feeling of happiness with other factors (wealth, solidarity, freedom …), this report offers a unique picture, if not perfect .
The question asked is simple: where do you fit on a scale of 0 to 10? The answer is unexpected: Happiness has resisted Covid-19, even though the virus feeds momentary pessimism. ” Surprisingly, on average there has been no decline in well-being in people’s assessment of their own lives ”, notes economist John Helliwell, one of the investigators. If we compare the past annus horribilis to the period 2017-2019, the average score even goes from 5.81 to 5.85 out of 10. A “Remarkable resilience”, summarize the experts, whose study does not however cover the third wave of the pandemic.
Lifestyle upheavals
How to explain it? Happiness is a deep feeling, sometimes insensitive to certain upheavals in the way of life. When people can plan for the long term, their resilience is stronger, the report diagnoses. They also saw relative equality in the face of a virus that strikes powerful and miserable. Finally, the management of the pandemic played a role, analyzes Jeffrey Sachs, economist at Columbia University (New York) and co-author of the survey: in the West, leaders have avoided despairing of citizens who are suspicious of them and sought a balance precarious between health mobilization and social concerns – illustrated by the risky strategy of Emmanuel Macron. The opposite of the choices imposed with an iron fist on the Chinese… whose sense of well-being has increased.
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