The year 2020 has been unlike any other. The effects of COVID-19 and how people around the world have fared are the topic of the World Happiness Report 2021. The goal of the report was twofold: first, to focus on COVID-19's consequences on the structure and quality of people's lives, and second, to explain and analyze how governments around the world responded to the epidemic.
Let's take a look at the components that go into calculating global happiness levels in this unique situation. Health and prosperity are two clear markers, both of which have been gradually increasing over the world. These are taken into account in the study, with GDP per capita and life expectancy at birth being weighed into the scores.
In addition, the report examines more intangible characteristics, collecting poll results on:
- Social assistance
- Freedom to make decisions about one's life
- Generosity
- Government/business corruption perceptions
- Effects, both positive and bad (Recent experience of emotions)
The negative effect assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic on happiness levels, such as aggravating mental health concerns, was a natural emphasis this year. Furthermore, such measurements differed based on how each country dealt with the crisis.
The Asia-Pacific area (northeast Asia, southeast Asia, and Oceania) has had a far lower mortality rate (deaths per million) than the North Atlantic region during the COVID-19 pandemic (the US, Canada, the UK, and the European Union). Both regions have temperate-zone, urbanized, developed economies, and their economic structures are largely equivalent.
In every quarter of 2020 and in January 2021, the most recent month at the time of writing this study, death rates in the Asia-Pacific was considerably lower than in the North Atlantic.
The North Atlantic region, for example, had an unweighted average of 7.6 fatalities per day per million population in January 2021, while the Asia-Pacific region had an unweighted average of 0.18 deaths per day per million population, 42X lower than the North Atlantic.
In comparison to the six Western civilizations studied, East Asia's success can be linked to stronger and more timely government responses, as well as better civic cooperation. Since the beginning, East Asian governments have established stricter mobility control and physical separation policies, as well as more comprehensive testing, tracing, and isolation policies (save for Japan).
Japan has the weakest record in containing COVID-19 among the five East Asian areas, owing to its weaker regulations.
The relevance of restructured and powerful government response mechanisms in providing the required institutional infrastructure for effectively executing control measures is demonstrated in a detailed description of policies in the five East Asian regions.
Multi-pronged tactics and extensive usage of mobility restrictions in combination with other interventions are also required. Furthermore, as the pandemic spreads around the world, East Asian countries have strengthened their public health systems and investigated dynamic response methods that are more focused and long-term in preventing large resurgences.
The cornerstones of COVID-19 control mechanisms in these nations have been proactive screening, prompt government response to local outbreaks, and intensive testing, tracing, and isolation procedures, with the goal of a rapid return to normal life alongside the virus, i.e. the "new normal."
We also show that the early effectiveness of government initiatives in eradicating COVID-19 in East Asia is replicated in Australia and New Zealand. These achievements have demonstrated that effective virus control strategies can be established in Western democracies.
Source : World Happiness Report 2021, VisualCapitalist.com
