World happier than before Covid pandemic; West slightly lesser than others: Global Happiness Index

New Delhi: Despite taking more than 6 million lives, pushing tens of millions on the verge of extreme poverty, and literally causing a socio-economic disruption across the globe, the Coronavirus pandemic has failed to make a dent in human beings’ ability to stay generous and happy, a global report on world Happiness revealed on Monday. The 10th World Happiness Report found that overall, “the undoubted pains were offset by increases in the extent to which respondents had been able to discover and share the capacity to care for each other in difficult times.” Things were slightly worse in western nations and slightly better in the rest of the world, it said. “The happiness movement demonstrates that wellbeing is not a soft and nebulous concept but rather concentrates on life’s essential elements: financial circumstances, mental and physical prosperity, individual virtues, and good citizenship,” states the report. According to the report, “life evaluations in September 2022 stayed higher than in the wake of the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russians, backed by a much stronger sense of shared purpose, generosity, and confidence in their leadership.” This was true despite the severity of the suffering and damage in Ukraine.