The world in 2020, filled with uncertainty and tragedies due to the coronavirus pandemic, has become a real test for many nations.
But surprisingly, the annual report on happiness showed that the global crisis didn’t dispirit people in most of the countries across the globe.
Ukrainians became even slightly happier compared to the year before, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report released by the United Nations on March 19.
Jumping over 13 positions in one year, Ukraine ranked 110th out of 149 countries, settling between Iraq and Algeria. Two years ago, Ukraine ranked 133rd standing right after Chad, a country in central Africa with the highest levels of hunger in the world.
“There has been surprising resilience in how people rate their lives overall,” the report’s overview reads.
The research is mainly based on the self-evaluation survey asking respondents to rate their current life satisfaction conducted by Swiss-based pollster Gallup International. It also analyzes other data including income, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices and perceptions of corruption.
The Scandinavian countries as usual took a lead in the report, with Finland topping the rating for the fourth year in a row. It is followed by Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden.
According to co-author of the report and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs, the research shows that, from year to year, people living in social democracies of northern Europe are ranked as the happiest nations.
“People feel secure in those countries,” Sachs told Associated Press. “The government is seen to be credible and honest, and trust in each other is high.”
John Helliwell, another co-author of the report and British Columbia professor, said in a news release that overall the rankings haven’t changed much over the year, despite all the stress caused by the pandemic.
“One possible explanation is that people see COVID-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling,” Helliwell said.
In an attempt to explain why Finland ranks as the happiest country globally, Finnish philosopher Esa Saarinen told the Washington Post that “Finns are pretty kind of content on some level at being just what we are.”
“We don’t really have to be more,” Saarinen said.
According to the annual survey by Gallup International that was released earlier this year and served as the basis for the UN’s happiness report, Ukraine ranked among the world’s five unhappiest countries in 2020.
