‘Emotionally, the world is in a better space'
A survey by Gallup from 2023 shows that Namibians worldwide are above average rested and smile more often.
Although the world has been bombarded with violence and destruction in recent years caused by wars such as the one between Ukraine and Russia and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas, a recent survey shows that people are currently in a better place emotionally than during the pandemic.The annual global survey by Gallup seeks to determine countries' emotional states and identify trends over the years. Gallup has been conducting the surveys for 18 years.
This year's report, which focuses on the surveys taken in 2023, also found that young people are more positive than other age groups and that Senegal is the country with the highest positive emotions in Africa.
Certain findings were also made about the emotions that Namibians experience, including anger, stress, pain and respect.
Gallup's positive and negative experience indices measure feelings and emotions.
"Each index provides an insight into people's day-to-day experiences, giving leaders insights into the health of their societies that they cannot glean from economic measures alone."
The findings are based on nearly 146 000 interviews with people aged 15 and over from 142 countries and territories.
Participants are asked questions such as whether they felt well rested the previous day and whether they felt they were treated with respect all day.
There are five questions for the positive experience index and five for the negative experience index. The average of all the answers is multiplied by 100 and countries' index scores range from zero to 100.
"These scores are strongly related to people's perceptions of their living standards, personal freedoms and the presence of social networks," the report expands on the positive experience index, adding that the negative experience index measures people's experiences with health problems and their ability to afford food.
Faster recovery
Furthermore, the report found that 2023 was a better year for the world's emotional health with negative emotions declining for the first time since 2014.
“In 2023, all negative emotions experienced a decline - which is good news. The bad news is that they all remain higher than a decade ago."
Stress has dropped significantly to levels more typically seen before the pandemic and feelings of worry, sadness, pain and anger have decreased globally.
Although the report found that positive emotional experiences already returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, it was young people who recovered the fastest.
According to Gallup's report, people under 30's positivity returned to pre-pandemic levels faster - a year earlier than older groups.
"The most improvement in positive emotions did not occur until 2023 in relation to those aged 30 and over," the report said.
The survey also found that young people generally enjoy more positive experiences compared to other age groups.
Gallup recorded a record score in 2023 in one specific category that has rarely risen above 50% in the past 18 years. This relates to the question of whether people have learned or done something interesting in the past day (before the survey). This number rose to 54% worldwide in 2023. The number has increased in all age groups in this regard, with the most still in people under 30.
"The percentages among older age groups reached new highs with 54% answering 'yes' among those aged 30 to 49 and 50% for those aged 50 and over," the report found.
Senegalese were number 1 in this category with 79% in 2023 saying they learned something new or did something interesting.
Namibians generally positive
According to Gallup's survey, the majority (82%) of Namibians felt that they had recently, before the survey, been treated with respect and 83% said that they had recently smiled.
Above average people reported being well rested, but below average people said they had recently experienced pleasure.
Regarding the feeling of concern, Namibia is below the global average with only 27% experiencing it. According to the report, 28% experience pain, 26% stress, 18% sadness and 18% anger.
In past years, Latin American countries topped the list of countries experiencing positive emotions and experiences and this is the case once again in the latest index. Southeast Asia also indicated high scores.
When it comes to African countries, there is only one country that consistently tops the list of top countries - Senegal.
According to the report, Senegal is the only African country on the list and it is not the first time that this country has made the list of top countries. It also topped the list of African countries in 2021.
The countries on the list (in order) are Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, Indonesia, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Senegal, Philippines and Thailand.
Worst off
The country with the lowest positive experiences, according to the report, is once again, Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan's score on the positive experience index was slightly higher in 2023 than in 2021 and 2022 after the Taliban's takeover. However, the country's score of 38 remains the lowest in the world, and most Afghans continue to live in misery," the report says, which also notes that Gallup's surveys were conducted in July, two years after the Taliban returned to power.
According to the report, the scores are so poor that the Afghans can be considered a suffering nation.
"Afghanistan has been rated as the least positive country in the world every year since 2017, apart from 2020 when Gallup was unable to survey the country due to the pandemic.
"This is after the country fell to a record number and hit a global low of 32 in 2021. The scores have crept upwards every year since then, reaching 38 in 2023."
Two African countries - namely Egypt and Ethiopia - also find themselves at the bottom of this list.
The bottom of the list on positive experiences looks like this: Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nepal, Lithuania, Yemen, Lebanon, Turkey, Northern Cyprus and Afghanistan.
Although Afghanistan still performs worst in the world on the positive experience index, it is no longer the worst on the negative experience index.
"Guinea, which continues to struggle with insecurity after a military coup in 2021 and experienced fatal protests last year, achieved the highest score on this index in the world in 2023," the report said.
Scores for stress in the country soared to record levels in Guinea. The majority of Guineans (52%) said they experienced a lot of stress and had the highest rates worldwide for worry (65%), physical pain (59%) and sadness (52%). Their experiences of anger (36%) were also higher than the international average (22%). – [email protected]