The latest data from Gallup’s Global Emotions report shows that the majority of South Africans are experiencing more positive than negative emotions in their lives in the country.<\/p>\n
Overall, the world is quite a happy place, the study found, with more than 70% of people worldwide saying\u00a0they experienced a lot of enjoyment, smiled or laughed a lot, felt well-rested and felt treated with respect.<\/p>\n
Compiling all scores into a Positive Experience Index, the world had a total score of 71, which is remarkably high, and consistent over the years, Gallup said. The score remained the same as 2014’s survey.<\/p>\n
To determine the score, Gallup took survey responses from more than 1,000 people in each of the 143 countries covered in the study (over 143,000 people), across two indices – a positive emotion and negative emotion index.<\/p>\n
The questions asked by Gallup to gauge the positive emotions include:<\/p>\n
\n\n
- Did you feel well-rested yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about enjoyment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
According to Gallup, the Positive Experience Index is designed to quantifying things such as respect, laughing and smiling a lot, and learning or doing something interesting –\u00a0\u00a0all things that “make a life worth living”.<\/p>\n
Overall, around 75% of South Africans responded positively<\/strong> to all the questions above, tying with countries like the UK, Thailand, China and Australia. This places the country 47th in the world, as listed – or tied for 10th, by score.<\/p>\n
The data from South Africa was collected via face-to-face interviews with 1,000 statistically representative people between 1 and 15 May 2015.<\/p>\n
The top 10 countries for overall happiness were all found in Latin America, with Paraguay (89%), Colombia (84%) and Ecuador (84%) leading the way.<\/p>\n
Countries that were least happy were Sudan (47%), Tunisia (52%) and Turkey, Servia and Bangladesh (54%).<\/p>\n
The region of the world that reports the lowest positive emotions is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,\u00a0Gallup said,\u00a0with a score of 59.<\/p>\n
“All countries in the region, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, have scores lower than the global mean.”<\/p>\n
Countries experiencing the most and least positive emotions<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n
\n #<\/th>\n Country<\/th>\n Score<\/th>\n Country<\/th>\n Score<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Paraguay<\/td>\n 89<\/td>\n Sudan<\/td>\n 47<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n Colombia<\/td>\n 84<\/td>\n Tunisia<\/td>\n 52<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Ecuador<\/td>\n 84<\/td>\n Bangladesh<\/td>\n 54<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/td>\n Guatemala<\/td>\n 84<\/td>\n Serbia<\/td>\n 54<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/td>\n Honduras<\/td>\n 82<\/td>\n Turkey<\/td>\n 54<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6<\/td>\n Panama<\/td>\n 82<\/td>\n Afghanistan<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7<\/td>\n Venezuela<\/td>\n 82<\/td>\n Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8<\/td>\n Costa Rica<\/td>\n 81<\/td>\n Georgia<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 9<\/td>\n El Salvador<\/td>\n 81<\/td>\n Lithuania<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 10<\/td>\n Nicaragua<\/td>\n 81<\/td>\n Nepal<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Unhappiness is still there<\/h3>\n
The second index compiled by Gallup tracks negative emotions.<\/p>\n
The questions asked by Gallup to gauge negative emotions include:<\/p>\n
\n\n
- Did you experience physical pain a lot of the day yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you experience worry a lot of the day yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you experience sadness a lot of the day yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you experience stress a lot of the day yesterday?<\/li>\n
- Did you experience anger a lot of the day yesterday?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Once again, South Africans showed a resistance to negativity, with only 18% of respondents affirming a negative experience – though the country has dropped out of the bottom ten of the index, where it placed 9th in 2014.<\/p>\n
The overall global positioning on the index is at 25, slightly down (meaning the world is slightly less negative) from 2013’s score of 27.<\/p>\n
According to Gallup, while things such as poverty, corruption, crime and a lack of freedom have a big impact on negative states in people, the countries with the most negative emotional responses often have more straight-forward\u00a0influences:\u00a0such as war, or economic crises.<\/p>\n
Countries experiencing the most and least negative emotions<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n
\n #<\/th>\n Country<\/th>\n Score<\/th>\n Country<\/th>\n Score<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Iraq<\/td>\n 56<\/td>\n Uzbekistan<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n Iran<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n China<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Cambodia<\/td>\n 46<\/td>\n Mongolia<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/td>\n Liberia<\/td>\n 45<\/td>\n Myanmar<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/td>\n South Sudan<\/td>\n 44<\/td>\n Russia<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6<\/td>\n Uganda<\/td>\n 43<\/td>\n Taiwan<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7<\/td>\n Cyprus<\/td>\n 42<\/td>\n Rwanda<\/td>\n 16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8<\/td>\n Greece<\/td>\n 42<\/td>\n Kazakhstan<\/td>\n 17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 9<\/td>\n Togo<\/td>\n 42<\/td>\n Kyrgyzstan<\/td>\n 17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 10<\/td>\n Bolivia<\/td>\n 41<\/td>\n Turkmenistan<\/td>\n 18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n