Hope for happiness in an emerging country during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created substantial social, economic, and psychological challenges worldwide. This study examines changes in subjective well-being and happiness patterns during the COVID-19 period compared with the pre-pandemic period in Türkiye as an emerging country context.

We analyze nationally representative Life Satisfaction Survey data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for the 2019-2021 period, covering approximately 10 thousand individuals aged 18 and above each year. Multinomial logistic regression models are employed for each year, preserving the original five-category happiness variable ranging from "very happy" to "very unhappy".

First, during the COVID-19 period, the percentage of individuals who defined themselves as happy or very happy decreased from approximately 54% in 2019 to 48.7% in 2020, before slightly recovering to 50.1% in 2021. Second, "health" remained the most frequently reported source of happiness among categories such as success, job, love, and money both before and during the pandemic period. The findings indicate that the main determinants of happiness remained broadly stable during the pandemic-period years, although the magnitude of several associations changed. Women reported higher happiness levels than men, whereas employed women exhibited relatively lower happiness levels. Having a job alone did not consistently affect happiness; however, employed individuals with at least a high school education tended to report higher happiness levels before the pandemic period. Furthermore, higher income, being married, health satisfaction, income satisfaction, and social life satisfaction were positively associated with happiness. A U-shaped relationship between happiness and age groups was also observed. Although higher-income individuals consistently reported greater happiness levels, the strength of this association weakened during the pandemic-period years. Finally, hopefulness about the future demonstrated the strongest and most consistent association with happiness. Hopeful individuals exhibited substantially greater odds of belonging to the "very happy" category, with odds ratios of approximately 18.0 in 2019, 15.1 in 2020, and 17.9 in 2021.

The findings suggest that although happiness levels declined during the COVID-19 period in Türkiye, the main determinants of happiness remained largely stable. Socioeconomic conditions, health satisfaction, and future expectations were important factors associated with happiness, while hopefulness about the future emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor across all years.