From Gallup
Implications for Peace
The global rise in unhappiness over the past decade has been well-documented, yet many leaders have overlooked it because they rely on economic indicators while ignoring daily emotional health.
This oversight matters because negative emotions do not just reflect distress; they narrow people’s focus and erode their coping capacity. When these feelings become chronic, they leave individuals and societies more vulnerable to instability.
As the world’s mood has soured, it has also become less stable, with rising political unrest, more conflicts and higher death tolls.
- The Global Peace Index, which tracks the absence of violence and conflict across 163 countries, shows riots, strikes and antigovernment demonstrations rose 244% from 2011 to 2019 — notably, even before the pandemic.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In 2024, adults worldwide reported high levels of daily distress:
39% felt a lot of worry,
37% felt stress,
32% experienced physical pain,
26% felt sadness
22% felt anger.
All are higher than they were a decade ago. Gallup’s inaugural State of the World’s Emotional Health 2025 report, based on 145,000 interviews across 144 countries and areas, reveals that daily distress may serve as an early-warning signal of fragility, with direct implications for health systems, stability and global development.
The report reveals:
Negative emotions remain elevated. Worry, stress, physical pain, sadness and anger are all higher than they were a decade ago.
Positive emotions are steady. Daily experiences of laughter, enjoyment and feeling well-rested held at long-term averages.
Peace shapes emotions. High levels of anger and sadness go hand in hand with weaker peace on the Global Peace Index, which tracks conflict, and the Positive Peace Index, which gauges the institutions that sustain stability.
Explore the full report to see where distress is deepening, where wellbeing persists and what it could mean for global stability, offering leaders a new way to read risk and to build more stable, healthier societies.