The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that “the main contradiction in our society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people’s growing need for a better life and the development of an inadequate balance”. The people’s need for a better life has not only received the attention of the party and the government，but has also been explored by scholars in various fields such as sociology and psychology. This study explores the people’s needs of a good life in their own mind nation widely through a self-made questionnaire “Needs of a Better Life Scale”. The results show that people have high level of needs for the good life on the subscales of country and society，family relations and personal materials. The general demographic variables such as gender，birth year，education level and personal monthly income also have a certain impact on the needs of a better life. This study also compared people’s needs for a better life before and during the NCP outbreak in order to assess the impact of the epidemic on the needs of a better life.