Don’t be fooled by doomscrolling — there’s more to be happy about than you might think, at least on a global scale.
Overall, positive emotions around the world are at the highest levels seen since 2020, and negative emotions have decreased slightly for the first time since 2014, according to the latest Gallup Global Emotions report.
The report is based on almost 146,000 interviews from 142 different countries and includes questions about how often people smiled, laughed, felt respected, or learned something interesting. It also asks about feelings like worry, stress, sadness, and anger, as well as physical pain.
The results are surprisingly upbeat, given that there’s no shortage of anxiety-inducing news worldwide.
Happiness is the highest it’s been since the COVID-19 pandemic began, ranked as 71 out of 100 on the positive experience index. In comparison, the 2021 report ranked global happiness at 69 out of 100 and negative experiences at an all-time high.
Despite stress and loneliness, young people are resilient
Still, negative emotions are higher than they were a decade ago, according to this year’s survey, and there are huge disparities in well-being for countries in conflict like Ukraine.
The US dropped off the list of the top 20 happiest countries, in large part due to young people reporting more unhappiness, according to a previous Gallup report.
Loneliness (a recent addition to the survey) continues to be a concern, affecting about one in five people worldwide. Lonely people were also more likely to report feeling sad, worried, or angry, and other research suggests it can have serious health consequences.
But there’s reason to be optimistic even as the world grapples with war, political turmoil, and natural disasters, the data suggest.
More than half the people surveyed said they did or learned something interesting in the previous day, a record high.
The survey also found that young people, as a group, were resilient to the stresses of the past few years and rebounded to pre-pandemic levels of happiness faster than people over 30.
The findings suggest that while we could be happier, things aren’t all bad and just might get better.
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