Objectives

Research on resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic has primarily focused on health system resilience. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) develop a broader understanding of societal resilience to shocks by evaluating resilience in three systems: health, economic and fundamental rights and freedoms and (2) to further operationalise resilience in terms of robustness, resistance and recovery.

Settings

22 European countries were selected based on the availability of data in the health, fundamental rights and freedoms, and economic systems during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Design

This study uses time series data to assess resilience in health, fundamental rights and freedoms, and economic systems. An overall resilience was estimated, as well as three of its components: robustness, resistance and recovery.

Results

Six countries exhibited an outlier excess mortality peak compared with the prepandemic period (2015–2019). All countries experienced economic repercussions and implemented diverse measures affecting individual rights and freedoms. Three main groups of countries were identified: (1) high health and high or moderate economic and/or fundamental rights and freedoms resilience, (2) moderate health and fundamental rights and freedoms resilience and (3) low resilience in all three systems.

Conclusions

The classification of countries into three groups provides valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of multisystemic resilience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study highlights the importance of considering both health and economic factors when assessing resilience to shocks, as well as the necessity of safeguarding individual rights and freedoms during times of crisis. Such insights can inform policy decisions and aid in the development of targeted strategies to enhance resilience in the face of future challenges.