The average life satisfaction score has even been falling since the start of the pandemic. It stood at 6.8 out of 10 at the start of 2021, compared to 7.3 in 2019 and 7.2 in 2020.
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The general satisfaction in the life of French households has been falling since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to reach an average score of 6.8 out of 10 in 2021, according to a study published Friday February 18 by Insee. This is the lowest level reported since life satisfaction has been measured since 2010, the institute said.
“Lifestyle changes and pandemic-related anxiety have led to an unprecedented drop in overall life satisfaction”, explains the study. While the average life satisfaction score was 6.8 out of 10 at the start of 2021, it was 7.3 in 2019 and 7.2 in 2020, before the first confinement.
Paradoxically, material and social deprivation has declined since the start of the pandemic, largely due to the constraints of the health crisis. At the start of 2021, 10.9% of French people were considered poor in the non-monetary sense, according to the European indicator of material and social deprivation, compared to 13.1% in 2019 and 2020. “This decline in deprivation is explained more by the impossibility of being able to participate in activities than by an effective reduction in financial difficulties”specifies the INSEE.
Life satisfaction, assessed on a scale from 0 “not at all satisfied” to 10 “completely satisfied”, is a measure of people’s subjective well-being. The European Union’s material and social deprivation indicator is defined as the share of people living in ordinary housing who cannot cover the expenses related to at least five out of thirteen elements of everyday life considered desirable, or even necessary, for have an acceptable standard of living.
This study has been carried out each year by INSEE since 2004 among 12,000 ordinary households residing in metropolitan France.