A new survey from the Central Statistics Office show that nearly 45% of respondents said that something in their lives has changed for the better since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
More than 51% of women and 38.4% men reported a change for the better since the coronavirus hit Ireland in March.
28.7% of respondents to the CSO's Social Impact of Covid-19 Survey for November reported spending more quality time with the people they live with, while nearly 19% reported improved finances.
14.5% also said they had more free time for hobbies as one aspect of their lives that have changed for the better.
Similar percentages of workers reported a "better work-life balance" and "less time commuting or travelling for work" as aspects of their lives that have improved since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis - 18.8% and 19.4% - respectively.
Of those working from home, 27.3% said they were finding it "more difficult", 37% said it was getting "easier" while 35.6% said there was "no difference" as time passes.
But the CSO also said that 35.6% of respondents to its social survey rated their overall life satisfaction as "low" as a result of Covid-19.
This compares with 29.6% in April 2020 and 8.7% in 2018.
The CSO noted that respondents between the ages of 18-34 reported the lowest levels of overall life satisfaction with 42.1% having a "low" overall life satisfaction rating.
The percentage of respondents that felt downhearted or depressed all or most of the time in November doubled between April and November 2020, from 5.5% to 11.5%, the CSO said.
Women were twice as likely to report they felt downhearted or depressed all or most of the time - 15.5% compared with 7.3% of men.
Today's figures also reveal that more than 71% of respondents believe the Government's Level 5 response to Covid-19 was "appropriate".
18.3% felt the response was "too extreme" and 10.2% believed it was "not sufficient".
The CSO said the likelihood of a respondent feeling that the Level 5 response was "appropriate" increased with age, with 63.2% of respondents aged 18-34 agreeing that the Level 5 response was "appropriate". This rose to 88.2% for those aged 70 years and over.
Meanwhile, the likelihood of a respondent feeling that the Level 5 response was "too extreme" decreased with age, falling from 23.1% for those aged 18-34 to 5.2% for those aged 70 years and over.
The CSO also said that 41.3% respondents to the survey said their consumption of junk food and sweets had increased since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
21.1% of respondents who consume alcohol reported an increase in their alcohol consumption when compared with their consumption before the onset of the crisis.
