People's happiness not impacted by Covid-19 pandemic, new study finds

• According to the 10th World Happiness Report, the Covid-19 pandemic has not impacted people's overall happiness as many may have suspected. 
• Interviews conducted across 137 countries found that overall benevolence rose globally.
• The largest happiness gaps were found in the African countries of Liberia, The Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

A new study suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic has not impacted people's overall happiness. 

The Guardian reports that these conclusions were reached despite putting entire nations on lockdown, triggering an economic downturn and claiming millions of lives. 

The World Happiness Report, through 100 000 interviews conducted across 137 countries, found that overall benevolence rose in all global regions. Similarly, when asked to rate their lives on a scale from one to ten, people responded with scores equally as high as before the pandemic. 

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"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," the happiness report noted via The Guardian.

The World Happiness Report was compiled by Richard Layard, a London School of Economics professor, and Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University.

"People ended up discovering their neighbours. People were checking in more regularly [with other generations], so that sense of isolation was not as much as you would expect," said John Helliwell, co-editor of the paper. "Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness."

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The report found the largest happiness gaps were in the African countries of Liberia, The Republic of Congo and Mozambique. "We need to turn this wisdom into practical results to achieve more peace, prosperity, trust, civility - and yes, happiness - in our societies," added Sachs.