2020 set records for negative emotions, continuing world’s decade-long downward trajectory – Stress index jumped five percent after record highs in 2019
By Julie Ray
20 July 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Gallup) – Nobody was alone in feeling more sad, angry, worried or stressed last year. Gallup’s latest Negative Experience Index, which annually tracks these experiences worldwide in more than 100 countries and areas, shows that collectively, the world was feeling the worst it had in 15 years. The index score reached a new high of 32 in 2020.
Gallup asked adults in 115 countries and areas if they had five specific negative experiences on the day preceding the survey. Four in 10 adults said they had experienced worry (40%) or stress (40%), and just under three in 10 had experienced physical pain (29%) during a lot of the previous day. About one in four or more experienced sadness (27%) or anger (24%).
Already at or near record highs in 2019, experiences of worry, stress, sadness, and anger continued to gain steam and set new records in 2020. Worry and sadness each rose one percentage point, anger rose two, and stress rocketed up five. The percentage of adults worldwide who experienced pain was the only index item that declined — dropping two points after holding steady for several years at 31%.
But 2020 officially became the most stressful year in recent history. The five-point jump from 35% in 2019 to 40% in 2020 represents nearly 190 million more people globally who experienced stress during a lot of the previous day.
Worldwide, not everyone was feeling this stress to the same degree. Reported stress ranged from a high of 66% in Peru — which represents a new high for the country — to a low of 13% in Kyrgyzstan, where stress levels have historically been low and stayed low in 2020. […]
Bottom Line
The pandemic is not entirely to blame for the world’s emotional state. While 2020 may have been a record-setting year for negative emotions, the world has been on a negative trajectory for almost a decade.
That’s not to say things can’t or won’t improve in the future. In the U.S. in 2021, people’s ratings of their lives rebounded — hitting new all-time highs — and their emotions returned to pre-pandemic levels. But all the findings reinforce why it is important for leaders to ask, benchmark and understand how their people are living their lives.
Read more about the world’s negative and positive experiences in the Gallup Global Emotions 2021 report. [more]
