Latin American Countries Continue to Lead the World in Positive Emotions
June 25 2024 - 6:01AM
Business Wire
The Gallup Global Emotions 2024 Report offers a snapshot from
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.
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 Declined Worldwide
On a global level, Gallup’s Negative Experience Index fell 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 percentage points from the previous year, but notably
remaining well above where it was a decade ago (33%) and the years
before that.
Latin American countries typically don’t score high on Gallup’s
Negative Experience Index. In 2023, Paraguay scored the lowest in
the region at 27, and Peru the highest at 40. Mexico and Panama
scored 28, Costa Rica 33 and Guatemala 34.
Some countries reported significant surges in negative
experiences such as stress, including Latvia (17 points), Kuwait
(14 points) and Egypt (13 points). But in Latin America, stress
levels remained relatively unchanged. More than one in three in
Paraguay (35%) reported experiencing a lot of stress during the
previous day, while almost four in 10 people in Mexico (39%)
reported the same, similar to Panama (38%). More than four in 10
reported experiencing stress in Guatemala (43%) and Costa Rica
(45%).
Positive Experience Index Rebound Complete
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.
Last year, three of the five emotions were stable compared with
the previous year. Over seven in 10 people worldwide said they felt
well-rested (71%), experienced a lot of enjoyment (73%), or smiled
or laughed a lot (73%).
The Positive Experience Index is a measure of experienced
wellbeing on the day before the survey. Questions provide a
real-time measure of respondents’ positive experiences. It is based
on people's responses to five questions about positive experiences
they had the day before the survey. Higher scores indicate that
more of the population reported experiencing these emotions, and
lower scores indicate the opposite.
In past years, Latin American countries have typically dominated
the list of countries where adults report a lot of positive
emotions each day. In 2023, the region was again well‑represented
on the Positive Experience Index.
Among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest scores,
six are in Latin America. Paraguay and Panama top the list at 86,
followed by Guatemala (85) and Mexico (84). El Salvador and Costa
Rica follow right behind with a score of 83.
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 occurred among those aged
30 and older.
The World Learned Something in 2023
For almost two decades, the percentage of people worldwide who
said they learned or did something interesting the previous day has
seldom topped 50%. The 54% who did so in 2023 represents a new
record high.
The rates are much higher in Latin America: Three out of four
people in Guatemala said they learned or did something interesting
the previous day, and more than seven in 10 in El Salvador (73%),
Panama (72%), and Nicaragua and Paraguay (71%) reported the same.
Not far behind are Mexico and Costa Rica, where 69% of people
reported having the same opportunities in 2023.
While more people in all age groups worldwide said they had
these opportunities in 2023 than in 2022, people younger than 30
continued to be the most likely of all age groups to report so
(59%). Percentages among older age groups also reached new highs
(54% for those aged 30 to 49 and 50% for those aged 50 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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Riada_akyol@gallup.com