Saudi Arabia has ranked first across the Arab world and 21st globally in the World Happiness Report for 2021, which was issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The report this year focused on measuring the effects of COVID-19 on the global quality of life and measures happiness index in about 150 countries around the world.

The 2021 report is based on measuring the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on countries, in addition to evaluating the government's response to the repercussions of the pandemic, whether health, economic or psychological repercussions.

“Saudi Arabia achieved distinguished results in indicators of GDP, social support, average life expectancy, freedom to make life decisions, generosity and confronting corruption,” read a statement from the Saudi Press Agency.

The Executive Director of the Implementation Support Sector and Acting of Marketing and Communication at the Center of Quality of Life Program, Khaled bin Abdullah Al-Bakr, affirmed that Saudi Arabia’s progress in the World Happiness Report for 2021 comes as a result of the leadership's interest in the quality of life and the happiness and well-being of citizens and residents, especially in light of the pandemic,” the SPA quoted al-Bakr as saying.

The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared. The aim of the report, according to WHR, was first to focus on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, and second to describe and evaluate how governments all over the world have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report found that in general, the Asia-Pacific region of the world succeeded in suppressing the pandemic.

The Asia-Pacific countries, in contrast with the North Atlantic, were actively engaged in a wide range of intensive Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs), including tight border controls; quarantining of arriving passengers; high rates of face-mask use; physical distancing; and public health surveillance systems engaged in widespread testing, contact tracing, and quarantining (or home isolation) of infected individuals. I also document such differences across the two regions in a companion paper,” wrote Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
 

SOURCE  ALARABIYA