Negative Emotions High Across Countries in Conflict in Greater Europe

In 2023, Ukraine was engulfed in war, while a new clash erupted between Israel and Hamas in the European sphere of influence. The Gallup Global Emotions 2024 report reveals the emotional toll of these conflicts.

The report offers a snapshot of Gallup’s latest measurements of people’s positive and negative daily experiences. The findings are based on nearly 146,000 interviews with adults in 142 countries and areas in 2023. While global negative emotions dipped for the first time in a decade and positive emotions rebounded to their pre-pandemic highs, many of the world’s conflict zones remained bleak.

After Oct. 7 Attacks, Israel Vaulted to Top 10 in Negative Emotions

Israel, surveyed by Gallup two weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, made the top 10 list of countries with the worst Negative Experience Index scores for the first time, at 47. In 2022, Israel ranked among the countries with the lowest scores in the world on this index.

Fueling this low score, Israelis saw massive increases in feelings of sadness (up 39 percentage points to 51%), stress (up 38 points to 62%), anger (up 23 points to 36%) and worry (up 37 points to 67%).

Ukrainian Negative Emotions Remained at Post-Invasion Record Highs

As Ukraine continued to fend off Russian offensives within its borders in 2023, Ukrainians reported record-tying levels of sadness (39%), stress (32%), anger (22%) and worry (53%).

Negative Emotions Dropped in Azerbaijan After Ceasefire

Following the signing of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijan led the world in declining stress levels — dropping from 40% to 14% in the span of a year. In addition to less stress, Azerbaijanis reported significant decreases in feelings of daily anger, worry and sadness.

About the Indexes

Gallup’s Positive and Negative Experience Indexes measure life’s intangibles — feelings and emotions — that traditional economic indicators such as GDP were never intended to capture. Each index provides a real-time snapshot of people’s daily experiences, offering leaders insights into the health of their societies that they cannot gather from economic measures alone.

Negative Experience Index Dipped in 2023

On a global level, Gallup’s Negative Experience Index declined for the first time since 2014. All five negative emotions that make up the index fell between 2022 and 2023, but stress levels dropped the most. Thirty-seven percent of the world felt stressed in 2023, down three points from the previous year but well above where it was a decade ago (33%) and the years before that.

Positive Experience Index Rebounded Post-Pandemic

Further reinforcing that 2023 was a better year for the world’s emotional health, positive experiences rebounded to their pre-pandemic levels, completing the recovery that started in 2022.

People younger than 30 continued to be the most positive of all age groups. Further, their positivity rebounded faster, with emotions bouncing back a year earlier than their older peers. Most of the improvement on the index in 2023 took place among those aged 30 and older.

About Gallup

Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.

About the Gallup World Poll

The Gallup World Poll is the most comprehensive and farthest-reaching survey of the world. The survey connects with more than 99% of the world's adult population through annual, nationally representative surveys with comparable metrics across countries. The Gallup World Poll is used to measure and track progress on several U.N. sustainable development goals and is the official statistic for work and life for more than 55 indexes and metrics associated with the most important aspects of individuals’ lives, their communities and their countries.

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