Moving up the World Happiness leaderboard!
Sixth place doesn’t seem all that great, we know, but there are 195 countries on Earth so it’s pretty good going! Plus, we’ve actually moved up a spot since the last report in 2020, which placed Sweden seventh in the rankings. So, what went on in 2020 (when the surveys were completed) to help us move up to number 6?
Well, this survey really focussed on the pandemic because, as we all know, that’s been our reality for a year now. The researchers found that the pandemic was having an obvious impact on people’s happiness, but more so in countries with greater income inequality. With regards to countries with greater income inequality, like Mexico, analysts noted that: ‘inequality of subjective well-being is an even stronger predictor of social trust’. However, in places like Sweden where income inequality is less dramatic, there seemed to exist more trust for one another, and therefore people were happier.
Another fascinating finding is that generally, women in Europe have been more likely to lose their jobs than men have. However, in Sweden, Portugal and Denmark this has not been the case. So, whilst it can be tempting to think of the pandemic as something that impacts everyone’s happiness in the same way, the world over, the data does not suggest this. You can read the full report here.