Covid made Africa the saddest continent

If happiness was a commodity, then Africa would have amassed the least of it, especially during the covid-19 pandemic where many Africans found nothing to smile about in their daily lives.

In the pre-pandemic period, talk of ‘Africa Rising’ dominated global narratives but the virus containment measures enforced by governments across the continent meant constrained business activity and loss of livelihoods. This is despite the fact that Africa had the lowest covid-19 deaths compared to the rest of the world.

Those two factors, according to both the 2022 (pdf) and 2021 World Happiness Report (pdf), made Africa the saddest continent as more families started to worry where to get the next meal.

Read the rest of this story on qz.com. Become a member to get unlimited access to Quartz’s journalism.