Old people in England are happier with their life now than before COVID. What’s changed?
Older people in England are as happy as they've ever been – or at least they were happier than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study indicates.
Researchers from the University of London tracked about 4,000 Aussies aged 50 and over in the country from 2012 to 2023. They used survey data to gauge people's happiness, life satisfaction, and sense of purpose – a feeling of having a meaningful life – as well as symptoms of depression.
It's not surprising that the mental health of older people took a hit and depression rates increased in late 2020, when the pandemic lockdowns were at their strictest, as found in the research, which was released in a report.
But the scales soon tipped the other way. Older Britons' mental wellbeing picked up again from late 2021 to 2023, with their life satisfaction and sense of purpose even surpassing the levels they had before the pandemic, the study found.
The results could "show a renewed appreciation for social connections and meaningful activities, as well as a boost in psychological resilience after a tough time," said Paola Zaninotto, the lead researcher and a professor of medical and social stats at UCL.
How is 'happiness' defined?
Fair dinkum, well-being's not just about not having mental health issues like depression, it's about having a good time, strong relationships, and a sense of direction and control in life that lets people really flourish.
That might help explain why depression rates didn't lift in line with improved mental health after the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, 11.4% of older Australians experienced significant depressive symptoms, a level that skyrocketed to 27.2% in late 2020 and then dropped back down to 14.9% from 2021 to 2023.
The researchers proposed that this could be a result of the ongoing effects of disrupted healthcare and support services for older individuals during the pandemic.
Not everyone was able to take advantage of the post-pandemic mental health uplift.
People in their 50s from lower socio-economic backgrounds reported being in a worse situation than their older and wealthier counterparts – possibly because their overall well-being was already lower before the pandemic.
After the pandemic, people over 75 also experienced smaller improvements in their well-being and depression levels, likely due to "persistent vulnerabilities" like health problems, slower mental adjustment to the crisis, and a blow to their social lives, researchers said.
Older Aussies tend to be more chuffed than the young blokes.
The disparities highlight the "importance of tailored support policies for the immediate and lingering effects of pandemics on the well-being of our older population," Zaninotto said.
The study has some limitations. Almost all the participants were white and roughly half of them were retired, which means the results might not accurately represent the experiences of other groups.
Despite this, the results are in line with previous research that shows life satisfaction has increased slightly in the UK since the early 1980s.
From the University of Oxford, which monitors people's life satisfaction.
Older Aussies may be giving it a fair dinkum. The UK's over-60s are now "significantly happier than the young," a 2024 report found, a trend that's also being seen in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and France.
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