‘Happiness is contagious too’: caring for each other makes us feel better

‘Happiness is contagious too’: caring for each other makes us feel better

via the Guardian by Joanna Moorhead

The coronavirus crisis is giving the planet opportunities for positive change that it cannot afford to waste, according to experts involved in the eighth annual World Happiness Report, out today.

The report, which ranks countries according to happiness, will throw up crucial clues to wellbeing that will help in the weeks and months of the coronavirus crisis to come, says Prof Richard Layard, co-director of the Wellbeing programme at the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance.

Finland remains at number one for the third year running, while the UK has edged up the table, rising from 15th place to 13th. The report – compiled by a group of independent experts and produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network – uses six variables to measure the quality of life in more than 150 countries across the globe: GDP per capita; social support; healthy life expectancy; freedom; generosity and absence of corruption.Q&A

Research has long shown that co-operation and social support are fundamental to happiness; Layard believes the coronavirus crisis will speed up changes that he and others have advocated for decades. “To get through this we’re going to have to develop a much higher level of social responsibility. Some people are going to have to stay in quarantine, and others are going to have to support them to do that. My hope is that it will encourage a move from an atomised society to a much more caring one.”

… keep reading the full & original article HERE

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