Children's Day no longer happiest day of the year

Children’s Day, once the happiest day for Koreans, lost its shine, dropping to No. 146 in the ranking for happy days last year, far from its No. 1 position in 2018.

People enjoy the last day of the three-day Children's Day holiday at a shopping mall in Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

Children’s Day, once the happiest day for Koreans, lost its shine, dropping to No. 146 in the ranking for happy days last year, far from its No. 1 position in 2018.

"The happiness that Children's Day gives is not like before the Covid-19 pandemic," Prof. Choi In-cheol said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, last Thursday, ahead of the national Children's Day.

Choi is currently a professor at Seoul National University's Psychology Department and the director of the university’s Center for Happiness Studies.

“The happiness level of Children’s Day, when families gather to buy presents or go out, fell, even after the end of the pandemic, as the economic downturn continued with high inflation and recession,” the professor said.

Seoul National University’s Center for Happiness Studies released a book, titled “Korea Happiness Report 2024,” covering such issues on April 26.

The center, first established in 2010, has been surveying more than 6 million Koreans in cooperation with internet conglomerate Kakao since 2017.

Last year, 112,672 people participated in the survey.

The center has released happiness reports annually for seven years based on its survey.

Prof. Choi In-cheol of Seoul National University, also the director of the university's Center for Happiness Studies, speaks during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, last Thurday, ahead of Children's Day. [JUN MIN-KYU]

According to the center, Children’s Day, which falls on May 5, is one key standard for measuring Korea's happiness level.

In 2018, the holiday topped the list as the happiest day of the year, and then fell to No. 4, the following year.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Children’s Day plummeted to No. 258.

When the Covid-19 social distancing measures were lifted in 2022, the holiday started to rise in rankings again, landing at No. 191, and then rising a step higher to No. 146 last year.

However, though it is moving up, it fails to recover its past glory.

One of the main reasons for such a slow recovery is due to “soaring inflation and economic depression,” according to Choi.

Choi said that on Children’s Day, families gather to celebrate, but in order to do so, money is needed to eat out and do other activities.

“People miss a lot of opportunities to experience happiness through social relations as they decrease their expenses on leisure when they’re in a tight financial squeeze,” he said.

The professor added that while money isn’t everything when it comes to happiness, in reality, there is a positive correlation between a nation’s wealth and its people’s happiness.

He also pointed out that the meaning of Children’s Day has faded, as society shifted to individualism due to the increase of single-person households.

He said that Children’s Day, which implies the importance of social relations to happiness, is losing its impact on happiness compared to the past.

“In the future, Children’s Day may not be a special holiday in Korean society,” the professor said.

The professor also compared Christmas to Children’s Day, saying that Christmas is less affected by external factors, such as economic situations, due to its association with the “year-end effect” that stems from holiday excitement.

According to Choi, the average happiness level among Koreans after the end of the pandemic was restored to its level from before the outbreak.

Only teenagers failed to regain pre-pandemic levels of happiness.

“As people can easily compare themselves with others through social media, the level of frustration, depression and anxiety increased,” Choi said. “Now is the time to pay attention to the mental health of adolescents, as they have low resilience to happiness.”

BY KIM SEO-WON, KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]