A recent study revealed that the world is sadder, angrier, and more afraid than ever before.
Every year since 2006, Gallup, a Global Analytics and Advice firm, has conducted a wellbeing analysis across the planet. The study covers how stressed, angry, or unhappy people generally are.
According to the recent annual Global State of Emotions report, in 2018, the analytics team recorded an all-time high for all three emotions. That’s the second consecutive year that the global feeling has hit a record level.
Although people reported a slight decline in stress, it can hardly count as a victory. The world is just as stressed as it was last year when it was also a record year for misery.
Now you’re wondering, what could be responsible for the global slump?
The Negativity That Comes With Recession
Several countries across the globe have endured bad experiences within the last 12 months. This varies from political crises, humanitarian emergencies, to war and recessions.
It’s no wonder that Chad claimed the unfortunate honor of being the world’s most negative country. The country’s economy has been in a deep recession since oil prices dropped in 2014.
As a result, the central African country has experienced a massive drop in living standards. Almost half of Chad’s 15 million citizens are reportedly living in extreme poverty. About 72 percent of Chadians say that they struggled to get food at some point over the year.
The findings in Gallup’s report reads;
“The country’s overall score at least partly reflects the violence, displacement and the collapse of basic services in parts of Chad that have affected thousands of families.”
Aside from Chad, other countries that dominated in the most negative countries category include Niger, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Iran, and Benin.
Latin America is The Happiest
On the flip side, countries in Latin America appear to be the happiest and most positive people in the world, with Paraguay holding the #1 spot. Other countries such as Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras follow closely behind.
As quoted by CNN, Managing partner at Gallup, Jon Clifton wrote in the report;
“People in Latin America may not always rate their lives the best … but they laugh, smile and experience enjoyment like no one else in the world,”
With the high level of poverty and violence in these Latin American countries, one question comes to mind; why are they so happy?
Clifton explains that the high score could be because countries in the region have a cultural tendency to focus on life’s positives.
For its 2018 Global State of Emotions report, Gallup interviewed over 151,0000 adults living in more than 140 countries. The researchers asked the respondents to write how they felt – whether they felt sad, angry, or happy – on the day before the interview.
The study shows that the number of angry people increased by two percentage points over the previous year. On the other hand, overworked and sad people only increased by one percentage point.
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