People think we will be kinder to eachothernow
MAKING it through the coronavirus pandemic will help make this country more united, according to people in the East Midlands.
Before the outbreak, one in four people in the region (23%) thought Britain was united, according to an Office for National Statistics survey.
That rose to half (49%) feeling the country would be very or somewhat united once we’ve recovered from coronavirus.
However, the regional results cover the whole survey period from April 24 to June 28.
National figures show a week by week decline in how united, equal and kind people think Britain will be once the outbreak is over.
On average, a quarter of people (24%) think Britain was very or somewhat united before the outbreak.
In early May, as many as 62% of people thought the country would be united after coronavirus. However, that had dropped back down to 28% by the end of June.
Similarly, just 19% of people thought Britain was very or somewhat equal before the outbreak - while the view that Britain would be equal post-pandemic made it as high as 26% in early May, it was back to 20% at the end of June.
However, people are more hopeful that we’ve become kinder.
Pre-pandemic, 44% said people in Britain were very or somewhat kind.
At the end of April, 67% said they thought people would be kind once we’ve recovered from Covid, and the proportion has stayed higher - it was at 56% in the last week of June.
Dawn Snape, Assistant Director, Sustainability and Inequalities Division, ONS, said: “Today’s research shows that earlier in the national lockdown, people believed that a post-pandemic Britain would be a more united one.
“However, over subsequent weeks, this belief declined. Most people also expected that inequalities in society would remain. But interestingly, there is still a belief that we will be a kind nation, perhaps because of the many stories of individual kindness we have heard or experienced over this time.”
Kindness may play a role in feeling united - those who gave or received community support during the pandemic were more likely to feel the country will be united in the future.
Around half (51%) of respondents who agreed that “if they needed help, other local community members would support them” thought that Britain will be united after the coronavirus pandemic, compared with only 26% who disagreed.
Similarly, 51% of those who reported having checked on a neighbour at least once in the past seven days and 51% of those who thought people were doing things to help others more since the pandemic thought Britain will be united after the pandemic, compared to 40% and 19% who didn’t.
Women and people aged 65 and over were more likely to think Britain was united before the pandemic, and more likely to think it will be united afterwards.
Those who believe Britain will be united after the outbreak are happier, more satisfied with life and more likely to feel life is worthwhile.
Those who felt this gave an average score for happiness of 7.2 out of 10 compared to 6.8 for those who think Britain will be divided.