Five years after the Lockdown of March 9, 2020, we analyze with 10 graphics how people’s habits have changed following that emergency measure taken to contrast pandemic.
The March 9, 2020after Pandemia’s declaration of Pandemia, and the deceased surge, Italy entered Lockdown: an unprecedented event that has distorted every aspect of daily life. Five years later, the data show how they changed Consumption, mobility and social habits in the countries that decided to adopt that dramatic and extreme emergency measure. From expenses for essential assets to the boom of e-commerce, from the use of smartworking to the rediscovery of small communities, we analyze through 10 graphic The most significant changes.
The collapse of the number of planes in flight
One of the most touched sectors from Lockdown It was that of transport. In particular, the data collected from the site Flighttradar24 they highlight the damage caused by anti -voucher restrictions to the sector of Air transport: against almost 200,000 planes in flight on February 21, 2020, on March 30 of the same year just 74,297 were recorded. The graph below highlights in detail the drop in the number of flights drawn from the site in the period February/March 2020.
Down carbon dioxide emissions
Following the stops of industries, transport and work it was clear that in 2020 the CO2 emissions would be reduced: the Global Carbon Project (organization that aims to quantify the global greenhouse gase emissions and their causes) had provided a drop of 2.5 billion tons, then actually the decrease stood at “only” 2 billion – a noteworthy one relating to other historical disasters, such as the 1975 crisis (which had seen a reduction of 100 million tons), that of 1983 (-1 billion) and that of 2009 (-300 million). In the graph it is possible to note how, immediately after this drop, the emissions resumed to climb with the same growth rate that was before the pandemic.
One positive side: less dead from pollution
In addition to cleaning up the air we breathed, having on forced breaks our lives saved thousands of deaths from pollution in just one month: the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea, Center for Research on Energy and Clean air) estimated that the Lockdown of April 2020 have avoided 11,000 premature deaths related to exposure to atmospheric pollutants (almost 1,500 in Italy). The data refer to the month of April 2020, for some European countries.
The boom of the masks
After a first moment in which we all went to the supermarket without masks, looking at each other in suspicion in scenarios with a post apocalyptic flavor, on April 26, 2020 the obligation to use the mask everywhere (also outdoors) is triggered to contain the spread of the crownavirus.
The global sale of these respiratory protection devices splashes to the stars: from 12.5 billion masks (including fabric, N95, surgical and FFPs) sold in 2019, almost 379 billion went in 2020, and in 2021 to over 402 billion.
Videochiameate: dizzying increase and then stall
Obliged to study, work and relate from home, we searched for new ways to stay in touch with the outside world and with the others: the big novelty of those days was Zoom, the group video calling platform that saw their earnings increase exponentially, which rose by 88% in 2020 and 326% in 2021, and then stabilized in the following years.
Sales of flour and other ingredients for pizzas and desserts are soten
Remember? The Lockdown made us all chefs and pastry chefs: bored by quarantine, in fact, many of us had given themselves to the kitchen, emptying the shelves of supermarkets to make an ingredients of … ingredients. Flour and semolina were the most bought products in Italy between February and March 2020 (with a+79%compared to the same period of 2019) – but also canned meat (+63%) and rice (+49%) recorded a large increase.
Consumption of electricity fall: is it surprising to you?
With TV, ovens and other appliances always on, at all hours, and in all the houses, in those days we would have been able to expect an increase in consumption. Instead, during the first months of the pandemic, the consumption of electricity is, overall, decreased: the closure of industries and offices has evidently weighed more, producing a drop in consumption in the whole everywhere. In Italy more than elsewhere, with a decrease of 27%.
The hours spent on Twitch doubles
Between a pizza and a TV series, we also spent a lot of time observing others doing things: the hours watched on Twitch, the popular streaming platform, have passed just over 1 billion in February 2020 to almost 1.8 billion in April 2020. In addition to having increased the users of the contents, which went from 1.36 million to January to 2.36 million in May, the creators of the videos have also grown, almost doubled, almost doubled. In a few months.
More teleworking for everyone
The ban on exiting has forced us to unify the house and workplace: and so the teleworking, which was previously a privilege of a few, became the normality for (almost) all. In April 2020, more than half of the companies interviewed by Gartner – a multinational that deals with strategic consultancy, market research and analysis in the field of information technology – said that after Covid they would leave at home (to work) between 5 and 10% of their employees.
The collections in the cinema have not returned to previous levels
The meeting places were the first to close in the first months of the pandemic: and so restaurants, bars and cinemas found themselves soon having to face with red accounts. But if in the first two cases the final reopenings have put an end to difficult years returning to fill terraces and dining rooms, in the last case this has not happened. According to the Numbers, a website that collects data on the film industry, 2024 ended in the United States with 8.5 billion of box office collections, against 11.2 in 2019.
In other words, and perhaps from the graph it is even more evident, the box office takings have never returned to the pre -demic levels (blue graphic designer), also thanks to the spread of streaming from home. And the “distance” compared to previous levels is even greater if you also take into account the effects of pandemic (green graphic designer).
