When the covid-19 epidemic struck, many Africans had nothing to grin about here in their daily lives, making Africa the continent with the least amount of happiness. In Burundi, the effects were the most pronounced.
Talk of ‘Africa Rising’ pre-pandemic was common, but the viral containment measures implemented by governments throughout the continent restricted commercial activity and resulted in the loss of jobs and livelihoods for many. Regardless of the reality that Africa has the lowest number of covid-19 fatalities in the world, this is still a big problem.
Both the 2022 and 2021 World Happiness Report found that when more families began to worry about where to find their next meal, Africa became the saddest continent.
The pandemic led to an increase in the incidence of mental distress and sadness in the families of breadwinners. The epidemic has resulted in the loss of 13.5 million jobs throughout the continent thus far.
Only nine African countries made it into the top 100 of a global index that assessed 150 countries, with a large portion of the bottom 50 coming from Africa.
Researchers use a variety of factors to gauge a country’s level of contentment, including health expectancy, generosity, GDP per capita, freedom to choose, social support, as well as corruption perceptions.
Africa has consistently low scoring for the last 10 years.
After Seychelles ($35,272), Mauritius has the next highest GDP per capita in Africa ($25,043), and Burundi, which isn’t included in the survey, gets the lowest score of $856 ($18,345).