Global well-being rebounded in 2022 after taking a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Gallup survey.
“Perhaps exhaling a collective sigh of relief after so much uncertainty during the pandemic, the world felt more well-rested, experienced more enjoyment, and smiled or laughed more the previous day than in 2021,” Gallup said in its 2023 “Global Emotions” survey.
The research organization’s positive and negative emotions indexes measure feelings and emotions by asking participants to describe good and bad experiences the day before taking the survey. For its most recent study, Gallup conducted more than 147,000 interviews with adults in 142 nations.
“Last year, roughly seven in 10 people worldwide said they felt well-rested (71%), experienced a lot of enjoyment (72%), or smiled or laughed a lot (73%). Nearly nine in 10 felt treated with respect (87%). People were far less likely, as they are typically, to say they learned or did something interesting the day before the interview; in 2022, half the world (50%) experienced this.”
The percentage of those who felt adequately rested and experienced enjoyment represented a 2-point increase, Gallup reported, while the percentage of those who laughed, smiled or were treated with respect increased 1 point each. The global index score for positive emotions increased from 69 to 70 last year.
“The latest figure is still lower than the score of 71 in the years leading up to the pandemic and even the first year of the pandemic,” the report explained.
Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, the Philippines and Vietnam each scored 85 on Gallup’s positivity index, the highest recorded in the survey.
“In past years, Latin American countries have typically dominated the list of countries where adults report a lot of positive emotions each day. The region is well represented on the Positive Experience Index in 2022; however, so is Southeast Asia. In fact, no countries outside these two regions topped the global rankings in 2022.”
In a separate interactive map provided by Gallup, Americans scored in the upper end of the positive emotions scale, with 90% of U.S. adults feeling respected the day before being interviewed, 78% experiencing enjoyment, 76% smiling and 66% feeling rested.
This year’s survey underscored the significance of participants who felt more rested. “After dropping in 2021 to its lowest point since the middle of the global economic crisis in 2008, the percentage of people around the world who felt well-rested ticked upward in 2022, rising from 69% to 71%.”
But the improvement was much more significant in some nations, Gallup added. “Many countries moved in a positive direction in 2022, including double-digit increases in several countries such as Mexico (11-point increase), Russia (10-point increase) and Lebanon (24-point increase).”
Gallup also highlighted nations that scored at the low end of the positivity index — especially Afghanistan with the bottom score of a 34: “Afghans were the least likely in the world to say they felt well-rested, with 35% saying they felt this way the previous day — which is statistically unchanged from 31% the previous year.”
The reason isn’t hard to discern. “Gallup surveys conducted in July and August — coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover — showed almost all Afghans (98%) rated their life so poorly that they were considered suffering. This percentage topped the previous high of 94% in 2021, measured as the Taliban seized full control.”
Turkey (45), Lebanon (46) and Bangladesh (50) rounded out the bottom of the list of nations with the lowest positivity scores last year, the survey said. “Lebanon and Turkey — the two countries near the bottom of the rankings in 2020 and 2021 — were not as low as the scores in Afghanistan in 2022. Lebanon’s Positive Experience Index improved from 37 to 46, while Turkey’s score remained statistically unchanged at 45.”
Gallup also asked participants about a range of negative experiences encountered the previous day.
“In 2022, worry, stress and sadness remained near the record highs set in 2021, but each dropped one point.”
“Four in 10 adults said they experienced a lot of worry (41%) or stress (40%), and nearly one in three experienced a lot of physical pain (32%). More than one in four experienced sadness (27%) and slightly fewer experienced anger (23%). In 2022, worry, stress and sadness remained near the record highs set in 2021, but each dropped one point. The percentage of adults worldwide who experienced physical pain increased one point, while the percentage who experienced anger remained at 23% for the second year.”
Sierra Leone and Afghanistan tied at the top of the negativity index with scores of 58, followed by Chad and Iraq at 53, and Guinea and Liberia, both at 49. Gallup added that “people in many of the countries and areas with high negative experience scores in 2022 were contending with economic and political turmoil. Surveys in Chad, for example, took place in the wake of some of the most violent protests in the country’s history.”
The study drilled into the issue of physical pain.
“Worldwide, not everyone was feeling this to the same degree. Reported physical pain ranged from a high of 77% in Sierra Leone to a low of 8% in Vietnam, where reports of this experience have historically been relatively uncommon. Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Gabon all saw substantial increases in reports of physical pain, with percentages rising 10 points or more between 2021 and 2022. Only one country, Poland, saw physical pain decrease this much, from 22% in 2021 to 12% in 2022.”