Insee Focus · February 2022 · n° 261

Satisfaction and material and social deprivation in 2021  After a year of pandemic, more dissatisfaction but less constrained budgets

In continental France, the Covid-19-related health crisis that began in March 2020 is still very much with us in 2021. Lifestyle changes and anxiety related to the pandemic have led to an unprecedented drop in overall life satisfaction. Its average level is 6.8 out of 10 at the start of 2021. It fell down from 7.3 in 2019 and from 7.2 in 2020 (measured primarily before the first lockdown). This is the lowest level reported since life satisfaction has been measured, namely 2010. At the same time, constraints on paid social activities due to the health crisis have reduced deprivation: 10.9% of people are poor in a non-monetary sense, according to the European Material and Social Deprivation Indicator, compared to 13.1% in 2019 and 2020. This decline in deprivation is more due to the inability to participate in activities than to an actual decrease in financial hardship.