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How has 2021 been for you? It might have been a better year than the last; in 2020, Covid-19 hit many of us hard - little was known about the disease, and we’ve seen its devastating impacts on people’s lives.
However, 2020 was a difficult lesson that taught us compassion and empathy - social issues like mental health, job losses and local business closures brought about by the pandemic have made us realise that our interdependence makes us vulnerable, yet stronger together. Calls were made to donate government payouts to vulnerable groups, and Singapore ReDiscover vouchers were given to migrant workers to provide them a respite from their dormitory movement restrictions.
In 2021, we have made some progress towards normalcy with the national vaccination rollout program, and we also learned to adapt to changes better and quicker. However, have people’s concerns for social issues waned? We previously conducted a survey to find out Singapore's top social issues in 2020, A similar survey was conducted in December 2021 with N=1000 Singaporeans and residents in December 2021 to look at how things may have changed.
Top social issues remain the same, with more concerned about mental health
Concern for the various social issues remain largely the same compared to 2020, with the top 5 maintaining their place on the list. Issues like sustainability of local businesses and racism (remember the George Floyd protests?) were hot-button topics in 2020, but mental health awareness seems to have found the most success with stickiness, with 77% voting ‘mental health’ as their top 5 concerns in 2021, compared to 67% in the previous year.
More support for local, small businesses in 2021
Compared to 2020, slightly more Singaporeans and residents have made purchases from local and/or small businesses.
When Covid-19 hit, many in Singapore rallied to support local businesses. Through the power of social media, users had helped to spread the word for struggling businesses. Additionally, national initiative ‘Made With Passion’ was launched in November 2020 to encourage support for local brands. These efforts have likely helped more local businesses to be discovered, and encouraged consumers to buy local products.
Adopting more eco-friendly habits
Although the percentage of respondents who indicated that they have changed or adopted eco-friendlier habits remain more or less the same, those who did so seem to have taken up a wider range of habits in 2021. Reducing waste and recycling remain the top habits, and habits that were picked up more widely in 2021 include repurposing/upcycling and switching to eco-friendlier products.
Many of us are definitely hoping that the new year is going to be less of a rollercoaster ride; with booster shots rolling out gradually, we can only keep our fingers crossed that Covid-19 will finally let up in 2022. The pandemic has impacted the lives of many individuals, and some have yet to recover from its long lasting effects. While looking forward to a better year, let’s not forget to keep a lookout for people who may need a helping hand.
Milieu Insight is one of the leading esteemed survey software and online panel research companies, partnering with businesses to harness the power of data.
