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This paper presents two datasets about college students’ subjective well-being and mental health in a developing country. The first data set of this report offers a diagnosis of the prevalence of self-reported symptoms associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and overall evaluation of subjective well-being. The study uses validated scales to measure self-reported symptoms related to mental health conditions. To measure stress, the study used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) to measure symptoms associated with anxiety (GAD-7), and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to measure symptoms associated with depression. This diagnosis was collected in a college student sample of 3052 undergrad students in 2022 at a medium-sized university in Colombia. The second dataset reports the evaluation of a positive education intervention implemented in the same university. The Colombian Minister of Science and Technology financed the intervention to promote strategies to mitigate the consequences on college students’ well-being and mental health after the pandemic. The program evaluation data cover two years (2020–2022) with 193 college students in the treatment group (students enrolled in a class teaching evidence-based interventions to promote well-being and mental health awareness) and 135 students in the control group. Data for evaluation include a broad array of variables of life satisfaction, happiness, negative emotions, COVID-19 effects, relationships valuations, and habits and the measurement of three scales: The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), a brief measurement of depressive symptomatology (CESD-7), and the Brief Strengths Scale (BSS).

This report presents survey data about the socioeconomic conditions and governance of informal workers in Cali, Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conducted with 750 street vendors via telephone, the survey explores eight interrelated topics: demographics, households and children, economic activities, income and expenses, access to financial services and debt, institutional trust, health, and subjective wellbeing. These data are valuable for two reasons. First, they allow for an analysis of the social and economic consequences of the pandemic for a population group that remains understudied and neglected by social policy. Second, they allow for an understanding of the governance of informal work during crises and possible paths to promote greater inclusion. Taken together, the data presented here provide tools for conducting academic and policy-relevant analysis about informal workers, the long-term consequences of COVID-19 in the global South, and how recovery from the pandemic can be made more inclusive and sustainable.

This analysis presents data collected through an online survey about the quality of life, health, subjective wellbeing, and government perception in four cities in Colombia during the COVID-19 crisis. Four universities and a local newspaper promoted the survey to assess how the pandemic affected the population's quality of life in a broad range of social and economic aspects. Respondents were adults (+18 years old) living in the largest Colombia cities: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla, totaling 1637 complete observations. Researchers used snowballing sampling strategy, social networks, a web page, and an advertisement in the partner newspaper for data collection. This data set helps to conduct social research and policy reports about the consequences of the pandemic. The data enclosed in this paper includes socioeconomic variables, income reduction, employment, household composition, teleworking, indebtedness, physical and mental health, physical activity behavior, subjective wellbeing, affective and communal relationships, institutional trust, and perception of government performance during COVID-19. We aim at contributing to a better understating of the consequences of the pandemic in Colombia and general in the Global South through the collection and dissemination of data for academic and policy purposes.

This paper presents three data sets about the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and subjective wellbeing in Colombia for three population subgroups: adults (+18 years old), college students, and informal workers. The data was gathered using three different online surveys in Colombia, South America. Each online survey had a different collection process. For adults and informal workers, we use a snowballing sampling strategy. For college students, we use social networks and students associations’ platforms. In total 2253 individuals participated in the data collection. The surveys aims at informing policymakers and academics about the consequences of COVID-19 in the wellbeing of three population groups. The datasets available in this report includes sociodemographic variables, standardized measures of subjective wellbeing, questions concerning to the pandemic and the quarantine, and emotional closeness with friends and keen. Information of informal workers includes a wide range of information about economic outcomes, like job stability, alternative income, financial inclusion, government welfare, and consumption patterns. This paper presents descriptive and correlation analysis of the variables included in the surveys. The information of this report aims at contributing to a broader discussion, beyond the epidemiological side, of the consequences of the pandemic on the population health. This data in brief is valuable by contributing records from a country in the global South, a region where information for policymaking and academic research is usually scarce. Before the pandemic unfolded, there were reports of high subjective wellbeing in Latin America, by studying subjective wellbeing in the middle of a crisis, is possible to examine how a crisis of this dimension affects the population wellbeing and resilience.