Recovered to 66% of Pre-COVID 'Normal Situation' Worldwide... South Korea Ranks 18th

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] An analysis has emerged showing that the world has recovered to 66% of the pre-COVID-19 normal level.

The Economist reported on the 2nd (local time) that it developed a 'normalcy index' using eight indicators to examine the extent to which society is functioning compared to before COVID-19.

According to The Economist, setting the pre-COVID-19 activity level at 100, the current normalcy index is 66.

When China entered lockdown in March last year, the normalcy index was 80, then dropped to 35 in April, and has remained around 60 since July.

By country, Hong Kong (96.3), New Zealand (87.8), and Pakistan (84.4) ranked at the top, while Nigeria, Ukraine, Romania, Denmark, and Egypt were in the low 80s, indicating activity levels quite similar to those before COVID-19.

Israel (80.4), with a high vaccination rate, ranked 9th, South Korea (73.1) was 18th, followed by China and the United States at 19th and 20th respectively.

Japan (65.4), ahead of the Olympics, ranked 30th, and the United Kingdom (62.5), which has a high vaccination rate but is experiencing a significant increase in cases due to the spread of the Delta variant, ranked 36th.

India (46.5), which suffered severely from the Delta variant, Taiwan (43.7), a country known for advanced quarantine measures, and Malaysia (27.3) had the lowest indices in that order.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.