Afghanistan remained among the least happy countries in the world, according to Gallup’s latest annual global survey on the negative and positive experiences that people have daily.
According to the report, humans across the world were unhappier than they were in 2021.
Gallup said that it asked adults in 142 countries and areas in 2022 if they had five different negative experiences on the day before the survey and then compiled the results into an index.
The report said that higher scores on the Negative Experience Index indicate that more of the population around the world is experiencing negative emotions.
“In 2022, about four in 10 adults worldwide said they experienced a lot of worry (41%) or stress (40%), and nearly one in three experienced a lot of physical pain (32%). More than one in four experienced sadness (27%), and slightly fewer experienced anger (23%),” the report said.
“Worry, stress, and sadness remained near their record highs set in 2021, although each declined one percentage point in 2022. The percentage of adults worldwide who experienced physical pain increased one point, while the percentage who experienced anger remained at 23% for the second year in a row,” the report added.
Meanwhile, the report noted that life was worse for the people of Afghanistan one year after the Taliban regained power than “at any point in the past decade — or for anyone else on the planet.”
The report added that Afghanistan has ranked as the least positive country in the world every year since 2017, apart from 2020 when Gallup could not survey the country because of the pandemic.
“After dropping to a global record low of 32 in 2021, the situation was not much different a year later. The country’s score of 34 in 2022 is the lowest in the world,” the report read.
The survey noted that positive daily experiences among people of Afghanistan were already in limited supply before the Taliban seized control, but “these emotions largely disappeared from Afghanistan in 2021 — and did not return in 2022.”
“The percentage of Afghans who said they felt enjoyment, learned something interesting, or felt well-rested the previous day stayed at or near record lows,” the report added.
Alongside Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Chad, Iraq, Guinea, Liberia, Lebanon, Armenia, Congo, Northern Cyprus, and Uganda were also marked with the highest negative experiences in 2022.
