A new Ipsos and World Economic Forum (WEF) survey found that there are wide variations in post-Covid ‘return to normal’ expectations, with almost 60% of respondents expecting a return to pre-Covid normal level within the next year.

Another 6% of respondents already believe this to be the case and another 9% think it will take no more than three months.

Thirteen per cent of respondents believe the return-to-normal will take four to six months, and 32% believe it will take 7 to 12 months.

However, about one in five respondents think it will take more than three years (10%) or that it will never happen (8%).

Views on when to expect a return to normal vary widely across countries, with over 70% of adults in Saudi Arabia, Russia, India and mainland China confident that their life will return to pre-Covid normal within a year.

In contrast, 80% in Japan and more than half in France, Italy, South Korea and Spain expect it will take longer, while at a global level, expectations about how long it will take before one’s life can return to its pre-Covid normal and how long it will take for the pandemic to be contained are nearly identical.

These findings suggest that people across the world consider that being able to return to “normal” life is entirely dependent on containing the pandemic, a statement published on April 12 reads.

About 45% of adults globally say their mental and emotional health has gotten worse since the beginning of the pandemic about a year ago. However, one in four say their mental health has improved since the beginning of the year (23%), nearly as many that say it has worsened (27%).

Similar to life returning to pre-Covid normal, 58% of respondents, on average, across all countries and markets surveyed expect the pandemic to be contained within the next year, including 13% who think this is already the case or will happen within three months, 13% between four and six months and 32% between seven and 12 months (the median time in most markets).

The majority of respondents in India, China and Saudi Arabia think the pandemic is already contained or will be within the next six months, while in contrast, four in five in Japan and more than half in Australia, France, Poland, Spain and Sweden expect it will take more than a year.

On average, across the 30 countries and markets surveyed, 45% of adults say their emotional and mental health has gotten worse since the beginning of the pandemic about a year ago, three times the proportion of adults who say it has improved (16%).

In 11 countries, at least half report a decline in their emotional and mental health with Turkey (61%), Chile (56%) and Hungary (56%) showing the largest proportions.