“Glücksatlas” of the Germans: Satisfaction sinks to a historic low

Corona has obviously hit the Germans violently: The new “happiness atlas” paints the picture of an annoyed country, life satisfaction is lower than it has been in a long time. But the survey also shows reason for hope.

According to a survey, life satisfaction among Germans is at an all-time low. In the new “Glücksatlas” published in Bonn, the German “happiness level” in 2021 is only given as 6.58 points. That is even less than the year before (6.74 points) – and the lowest level since the survey began in 1984.

The previous low was reached in 2004 (6.65 points) – in times of high unemployment figures. In 2019, before the corona pandemic, Germans had given their life satisfaction with an average of 7.14 points. That was a record at the time.

Survey between January and June 2021

The study commissioned by Deutsche Post is essentially based on a representative survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy with more than 8,400 participants. The respondents were asked, among other things, to rate their satisfaction with life on a scale. 0 stood for “not at all satisfied”, 10 for “completely satisfied”. The people were surveyed between January and June 2021, i.e. in a phase with a lockdown, but also with loosening and increasing vaccination numbers. The situation in the second half of the year is not shown.

Happiness and Corona are closely linked

According to the study, German satisfaction and the pandemic are linked. “The higher the number of infections and the stricter the measures, the lower the level of happiness,” says the report. In view of the cuts, the perceived loss of happiness in 2021 even appears to be “rather mild”. “The greatest dissatisfaction was caused by the overall rather excessive lockdowns, the greatest increase in satisfaction and confidence was brought about by the vaccination,” said Bernd Raffelhüschen, head of the study, from the University of Freiburg.

Leisure time, family and children

Satisfaction with their own leisure activities decreased particularly significantly. It plummeted to 5.0 points – before the pandemic it was 7.21 points. Satisfaction with family life also fell (minus 0.8 points). Repeated closings of schools and day care centers are a burden for families, according to the authors. “In normal times, children are good luck charms,” ​​they write. “In Corona times, primary school children cost their parents 0.21 satisfaction points on average.”

There were also differences depending on the occupational group and gender under Corona conditions: The happiest in the pandemic remained officials with 7.02 points. With 6.56 points in the Corona crisis, women were more dissatisfied with their lives than men (6.72 points).

Alignment between West and East

It is noticeable that the new and old federal states are converging when it comes to happiness. For the west, the “happiness atlas” gives a life satisfaction of 6.61 points, for the east 6.51 points. While this is an all-time low for West Germans, for East Germans it only means a relapse to the level of 2008. In the 1990s, they were sometimes more dissatisfied with the difficult aftermath of reunification. The “Glücksatlas” data have been collected since 1984, at that time still excluding East Germany.

Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt at the top

The atlas locates the happiest Germans in both a West and an East German federal state: Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt (both 6.78 points). The country in the north is traditionally considered a haven for the lucky ones and was already the front runner, Saxony-Anhalt is climbing way up – before the pandemic it was still in 13th place according to the authors. Rather, their “happiness level” has only dropped less sharply than elsewhere. Berlin is at the bottom.

Vaccination as a “game changer”

The investigation pays particular attention to the vaccination against the coronavirus. According to this, many Germans draw their hope from it, not least. Almost 70 percent are optimistic that the pandemic can be overcome if a large part of the population can be vaccinated. The vaccination is also known as a “game changer”: it triggers a “significant boost of happiness” in vaccinated people and increases life satisfaction by an average of 0.52 points. The perceived burden due to the Corona crisis is falling.

In the case of those unwilling to vaccinate, however, it is the other way round. “Those who do not want to be vaccinated are 0.62 points more unhappy with their lives than the average population,” explained the authors.