Britain scored worse than Tajikistan and Yemen for mental wellbeing (Credits: Shutterstock/fizkes)
Only Uzbekistan is more miserable than Britain, a ‘worrying’ new mental wellbeing report has found.
With the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic still fresh in memory and many struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, it may not come as a total surprise that Britain didn’t score on top of the list for mental wellbeing globally.
However, just how low the country fared is alarming.
Only the central Asian country of Uzbekistan ranked worse, with Britain placing 70th out of 71 for overall mental wellbeing, giving it an average score of 49 compared to 65 globally.
Currently the UK government advises against all but essential travel to parts of Uzbekistan’s border with Afghanistan, and around 17% people in the Central Asian state live under the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank.
How different countries compared (Credit: Sapien Labs)
Yemen, where around 21.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, scored 59 for mental wellbeing – better than the UK, Ireland and Australia.
Less wealthy countries in Africa and Latin America scored the highest for wellbeing, with Dominican Republic taking the first spot followed closely by Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
The new report was carried out by researchers at the US-based Sapien Labs think tank, who found that mental wellbeing in 2023 has still not recovered to the pre-pandemic levels.
The researchers suggested reasons why richer countries scored so poorly (Credits: Shutterstock/fizkes)
The assessment focused on mood and outlook, social self, drive and motivation, adaptability and resilience, cognition, and mind-body connection.
Armed with responses from more than 500,000 people across 71 countries, experts said the low scores for richer countries were explained by early-age smartphone use, eating ultra-processed food and unravelling of friendships and family ties.
The highest proportion of people who said they were not doing well came in Brazil, South Africa and Britain, with 35% of respondents in the UK saying they were distressed or struggling.
In contrast, 26% of people in Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Syria said they were distressed or struggling.
In the eight English-speaking countries tracked since 2019, the average MHQ score fell by 8% between 2019 and 2020.
The change in mental wellbeing in eight English-speaking countries after Covid-19 struck (Credit: Sapien Labs)
The number of people who said they were distressed or struggling grew significantly from pre-pandemic to 2023, and has shown hardly any change for all countries.
Percentage of people who were distressed or struggling has not improved since 2021 (Credit: Sapien Labs)
The scientists said: ‘Overall, the insights in this report paint a worrying picture of our post-pandemic prospects and we urgently need to better understand the drivers of our collective mental wellbeing such that we can align our ambitions and goals with the genuine prosperity of human beings.’
Alarmingly, young people seem to be the hardest hit across eight English-speaking countries, with the mental wellbeing of those aged 18-24 showing the least improvement since 2020.
Wellbeing for over-65s on the other hand has remained steady.
Mental wellbeing fell sharply for those aged 18-64 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 (Credit: Sapien Labs)
Mental wellbeing was defined as the ability of an individual to handle the normal stresses and adversities of life and contribute productively to society.
The anonymous online survey MHQ assessed the cognitive and emotional capabilities to give an overall mental wellbeing score.
A negative score suggested the person was distressed or struggling, between zero and 50 meant they were enduring, 50-100 managing, while at 100-200 they were succeeding or thriving.
UK, Ireland and Australia scored low for motivation and drive, while Bolivia, India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan had higher scores compared to similarly ranked countries.
The assessment faced reporting bias because the survey was only open to those with internet access in their country, meaning people surveyed in a less developed country were likely to be more well-off and educated, making their circumstances more similar to typical people in developed countries, Sapien Labs Founder and chief scientist Dr Tara Thiagarajan told DailyMail.com.
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