The “Glücksatlas” measures general life satisfaction every year – and this has suffered a powerful damper in the Corona crisis. What role do age, gender and place of residence play in this?
Bonn (dpa) – Less social contacts, homeschooling and short-time work: According to a survey, the corona crisis is depressing people’s satisfaction with life in Germany.
On a scale from 0 to 10, the respondents rated their general satisfaction this year with an average of 6.74 points – after the previous high of 7.14 points in 2019. This emerges from the new “happiness atlas” that has now been presented.
Nevertheless: “We are not a bag of frustration,” said Bernd Raffelhüschen, Professor of Finance at the University of Freiburg, who is now the tenth “Glücksatread »in the orderag of Deutsche Post. Because despite Corona, the slump was relatively moderate – the general level of happiness is still “in the upper midfield” of the scale.
The Institute for Demoscopy in Allensbach surveyed almost 4,700 German citizens aged 16 and over from March to June – during the first Corona lockdown. Further data come from a long-term study by the German Institute for Economic Research and an Ipsos survey from June 2020.
According to the “Glücksatlas”, men lost less satisfaction (minus 0.33 points) than women who, according to the researchers, experienced “a real fall in happiness” with minus 0.47 points. The reason is primarily the greater burden in the Corona crisis – childcare and homeschooling in lockdown are mainly stuck with the mothers. In addition, the life satisfaction of respondents from families with three or more children fell above average (minus 0.9 points).
Broken down by age group, 45 to 59 year olds lost the most satisfaction (minus 0.48 points). According to the researchers, this age group is particularly under economic pressure: Often, loans have to be paid off, older children financed and provisions made for retirement.
According to the report, the differences between the regions have shrunk. The satisfaction of the people in western Germany fell by 0.42 points and thus more than in eastern Germany (minus 0.30). “The corona crisis is hitting the West harder both because of the higher numbers of infected people and because of more severe economic upheavals,” the researchers state. Due to the influence of the pandemic, the level of satisfaction in West and East Germany has now almost equalized. Last year, the difference was only very small.
In a country comparison, the happiest people still live in the north: Schleswig Holstein and Hamburg each have 6.92 points. Thuringia is at the bottom of the list (6.50), which is the only eastern German state that has lost a relatively large amount. Objective reasons for this are not apparent, said Raffelhüschen. In any case, the comparison of regions this year has only limited informative value due to a smaller amount of data and an adapted methodology.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201118-99-381008 / 2
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