By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye
“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 and 22% felt anger. Worry, stress, physical pain, sadness and anger are all higher than they were a decade ago. Compared with a decade ago, hundreds of millions more people now experience these emotions. Gallup’s inaugural State of the World’s Emotional Health 2025 report, based on 145,000+ interviews across 144 countries and areas, investigates for the first time the links between emotions, peace and health, reveals that daily distress may serve as an early-warning signal of fragility, with direct implications for health systems, stability and global development.
Negative emotions remain elevated. 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.” Those are words from the mentioned 2025 Gallup report. It reflects not just individual suffering but a collective emotional burden, signaling the urgent need for policies, interventions, and societal efforts that strengthen resilience, mental well-being, and social cohesion worldwide.
“Right from birth to death, one thing that constantly travels with you is your emotions. Every single action we take or goal we set involves the emotions you want to feel and express. Most of us are slaves of our past—of past emotional baggage that we have created from childhood till now. Consciously or unconsciously, the emotional baggage we carry is influencing our current relationship with our self and the people in our lives.” Those are words contained in the summary description of the book “The Power of Emotions: A Proven 4-Step Model to Gain True Happiness in your Personal and Professional relationships” on Amazon. “This book is a journey to help you bring awareness, find ways to break the pattern that is controlling your life, heal your past and find peace, happiness, and love in the relationship with yourself and the important people in your life. Go on a journey from emotional awareness to self-healing; learn from true inspirational stories and the step-by-step practical guide that can lead you to live a happy and fulfilling life.”
By incorporating the insights from both Gallup’s 2025 Global Emotional Health Report and The Power of Emotions, this article underscores that while governments bear a critical responsibility to foster societal wellbeing, individuals also carry the responsibility to play a role, such as through cultivating self-awareness and actively participating in building their own happiness and healthier relationships. True resilience and lasting peace arise not only from policy and institutions but from the conscious emotional work each person undertakes in daily life. As underlined by the book, it is possible to master the skill of leading a happy and fulfilling life.
Emotions, peace and health
Gallup points out “Sadness, worry and anger were more common in less peaceful countries as measured by the Institute for Economics & Peace’s Global Peace Index. Anger, sadness and physical pain were higher in countries where scores on the Institute for Economics & Peace’s Positive Peace Index are weaker. Positive emotions such as enjoyment and feeling respected were less common in countries with weaker scores on either index.
The Global Peace Index measures the absence of violence and conflict across 163 countries. This is based on official and expert indicators of related factors such as levels of conflict, crime, political instability and militarization. The Positive Peace Index measures the attitudes, institutions and structures that sustain lasting stability, including metrics of good governance, equitable resource distribution and social cohesion. Gallup’s analysis found that negative emotions generally rise, and positive emotions decline, when there is less peace, although relationships are stronger with certain emotions than others.”
In today’s interconnected world, emotions do more than shape individual experiences—they influence the health and stability of entire societies. Gallup’s research shows that the emotional climate of a population is deeply linked to both public health and peace, revealing how feelings can act as early indicators of societal wellbeing. “Do Emotions Matter to People’s Health and Peace in Their Countries? Peace, health and emotional wellbeing are not separate outcomes. They deeply connect, reinforcing each other. Peace allows health systems and daily life to function. By contrast, poor health and widespread unhappiness can fray societies and raise the risk of instability. Peace, Health and Wellbeing. These patterns matter for health as well.
Gallup’s tracking shows that negative daily emotions correspond with lower life expectancy at birth — where these emotions are more prevalent, populations are more likely to live shorter lives. Positive emotions also tend to be weaker in less peaceful societies. When peace is absent, health systems and communities weaken, making daily life more difficult and less secure. When peace is present, both health and emotional wellbeing have room to improve. Gallup’s research offers evidence that emotions can serve as vital signs of fragility for these larger systems, providing indicators that leaders can use to understand societal risks and to design policies that strengthen both peace and health.”
Over the past decade, rising unhappiness around the world has gone largely unnoticed by leaders focused on economic measures, overlooking the profound effects of daily emotional health. Yet chronic negative emotions weaken individuals and societies alike, fueling instability, political unrest, and a sharp rise in conflicts. Gallup highlights “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 [COVID-19].”
Resilience of positive experiences and demographic differences
Gallup states “In 2024, Gallup asked adults worldwide whether they had experienced five positive emotions during much of the previous day: 88% of adults worldwide said they were treated with respect the previous day — up three points from 2023 and among the highest levels Gallup has ever recorded. Smiling or laughing (73%) and enjoyment (73%) held steady at long-term averages. 72% said they felt well-rested, essentially unchanged over the past decade, while 52% said they learned or did something interesting the previous day, which is slightly lower than in 2023 but still above 2014 levels.
Globally, daily positive experiences have proven more resilient than negative ones — and in some cases, have even strengthened since the pandemic. Research shows why: [1] positive emotions broaden awareness and help people build lasting resources, such as coping strategies, relationships and resilience, which further feed into positive experiences. [2]These deeper foundations make positive experiences harder to shake, even in crisis, while negative emotions react more sharply to instability.”
Emotional experiences are not evenly shared—gender and age shape who faces the heaviest burdens and where wellbeing pressures are most acute. Women and younger adults report higher levels of sadness, worry, anger, and physical pain, disclosing vulnerabilities that can intensify in times of societal conflict and ease during periods of peace. Gallup explains “Not everyone experiences these emotions equally — differences by gender and age reveal who carries the heaviest burdens and where wellbeing pressures are greatest. Globally, women report more sadness, worry and physical pain. Younger adults carry more anger, while midlife adults bear the most stress.
The oldest adults endure the most sadness. Demographic differences in the daily experiences may reflect disparities in individuals’ health outcomes; these disparities reveal vulnerabilities that deepen during times of conflict in society or can be mitigated during times of peace. Women and men alike are experiencing more negative emotions than in the past. But for nearly two decades, more women than men have reported experiencing daily anger, sadness, worry and stress, as well as more physical pain. The gender gap only widened during the pandemic, particularly for sadness, worry and pain.”
Although women have historically reported more health problems that limit daily activities, recent data show the gender gap narrowing. Remarkably, despite higher daily distress, women are just as likely—or even slightly more likely—than men to consider their lives thriving, highlighting the resilience of overall life satisfaction. “Women have also been more likely to report having health problems that keep them from activities people their age normally do. However, in 2024, this gender gap was the smallest in five years: 24% of women and 22% of men reported life-limiting health problems.
Yet women remain at least as likely — if not slightly more likely — as men to rate their lives positively enough to be considered “thriving” on Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index. In 2024, 29% of women worldwide were thriving compared with 27% of men. This resiliency underscores that higher daily distress does not necessarily translate into lower overall life evaluations.”
Listening to the world’s emotions— a call for action
The findings of Gallup’s 2025 Global Emotional Health Report make one truth undeniable: emotions are not merely private experiences—they form signals with profound societal consequences. Daily distress, when widespread, does more than diminish individual wellbeing; it weakens communities, strains health systems, and erodes the social cohesion necessary for peace and stability.
The report highlights that nearly 40% of adults globally experienced high levels of worry in 2024, while 37% reported stress, 32% physical pain, 26% sadness, and 22% anger. These are not small numbers—they represent hundreds of millions of people whose emotional burdens ripple outward, affecting workplaces, neighborhoods, and national resilience. Where negative emotions dominate, peace falters, and societies are more vulnerable to political unrest, conflict, and economic fragility.
Yet, the report also offers a critical insight: positive emotions, resilience, and life satisfaction are not absent even in the face of distress. Women, younger adults, and midlife populations carry heavier emotional loads, but they also demonstrate remarkable resilience. Despite reporting higher daily distress, women are slightly more likely than men to rate their lives as “thriving,” illustrating that overall life satisfaction can persist even when daily challenges are significant. Globally, experiences of respect, enjoyment, and learning remain strong, showing that human beings retain the capacity to cultivate wellbeing, even amid instability.
This dual reality—high distress alongside persistent positive experiences—underscores an urgent imperative: emotional health must move to the forefront of policy, social planning, and global development. Leaders cannot afford to rely solely on economic indicators or traditional measures of progress; daily emotions offer vital early-warning signals that reveal societal fragility before crises escalate. Strengthening emotional health is not just a matter of individual wellness—it constitutes a foundational strategy to safeguard peace, reinforce public health, and build resilient societies.
In addition to Gallup’s data, insights from various sources such as The Power of Emotions reinforce a core message: while structural and policy solutions are essential, individual initiative plays a critical role in preserving wellbeing. The book emphasizes that cultivating self-awareness, addressing past emotional burdens, and consciously nurturing positive emotions can profoundly influence personal and collective resilience. This perspective is especially vital today, when circumstances beyond our control—from political instability to global crises—can amplify distress and undermine stability.
By highlighting personal responsibility alongside societal interventions, the article underscores that meaningful change requires both top-down and bottom-up efforts. In essence, protecting and fostering positive emotions is not merely a personal benefit—it represents a necessary contribution to the health, peace, and stability of entire communities.
Gallup’s 2025 Global Emotional Health Report reveals a stark reality: daily distress is widespread, and its ripple effects extend far beyond individual suffering, undermining peace, health systems, and societal stability. Yet, as The Power of Emotions underscores, individuals are not powerless. This dual insight—linking data-driven societal trends with practical strategies for emotional growth—highlights that lasting stability and thriving societies require coordinated action from both leaders and citizens.
By listening to the world’s emotions and taking intentional steps to nurture positivity, we can mitigate the risks of widespread distress and build foundations for health, peace, and resilience. Life In Humanity will continue exploring this landmark report, guiding readers toward actionable interventions that make emotional wellbeing a priority—because the strength of our societies begins with the strength of our hearts and minds.