Global Stress Declines While Positive Feelings Rebound Despite Conflicts, Weighs In Gallup
In 2023, the world experienced conflict, such as the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia and a new one between Israel and Hamas. However, it was emotionally better off than during the pandemic's peak. According to the Gallup Global Emotions 2024 Report, negative emotions decreased for the first time in a decade, while positive emotions returned to pre-pandemic levels. The report is based on nearly 146,000 interviews with adults from 142 countries and areas in 2023.
Gallup's Positive and Negative Experience Indexes
These indexes measure intangible aspects of life like feelings and emotions that traditional economic indicators like GDP cannot capture. They provide real-time snapshots of people's daily experiences, offering leaders insights into their societies' health beyond economic measures.
Changes in Negative Experiences
In 2023, Guinea had the highest score on the Negative Experience Index (53), followed by Israel (47), which was surveyed two weeks after the Hamas attacks on October 7th. Israel's score was influenced by record-level surges in negative emotions following the attacks. Globally, Gallup's Negative Experience Index declined for the first time since 2014, with stress levels dropping the most.
Global Stress Levels
Although stress levels fell globally in 2023, they remained higher than a decade ago (33%) and before that. Stress was reported above 60% in Northern Cyprus (65%) and Israel (62%), while it was below 10% in Kyrgyzstan (8%). Israel experienced a record high increase in stress levels (38 points), while other countries saw double-digit increases such as Latvia (17 points), Kuwait (14 points) and Egypt (13 points).
Positive Experiences Rebound
Positive experiences rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, completing a recovery that began in 2022. People under 30 were the most positive age group, with their positivity recovering faster than older individuals. Most of the improvement on the index occurred among those aged 30 and older.
Lowest Positive Experience Scores
Afghanistan had the lowest score on the Positive Experience Index again in 2023. Northern Cyprus also scored low with a record-low score of 46. Lebanon and Türkiye continued to rank near the bottom since 2020; however, Lebanon's Positive Experience Index rebounded in 2023, while Türkiye's score remained statistically unchanged from the previous year.
In conclusion, despite ongoing conflicts around the world in 2023, global emotional health improved as negative emotions decreased and positive emotions returned to pre-pandemic levels.
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