We look at the most stressed countries in the world according to Gallup’s latest survey. The results may well surprise you

How did you feel yesterday? Did you feel physical pain? Experience enjoyment? Worry? Anger? What about stress?

These are the questions put to 151,000 adults in 142 countries across the world as part of the Gallup Global Emotions Report, which measures life’s intangibles – feelings and emotions – that traditional economic indicators such as GDP were never intended to capture.

The report creates a number of indexes, ranking countries by the percentage of people who answered ‘yes’ to a particular question. The resulting data allows us to rank and examine the most stressed countries in the world.

The 10 Least and most stressed countries

These are the least and most stressed countries in the world according to the Gallup Global Emotions Report.

One in three are stressed

The results are somewhat surprising. Global studies and indexes such as the World Happiness Report frequently rank sub-Saharan African countries poorly while Nordic countries usually rank well.

Other consistent high performers are the European nations along with the likes of Canada, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

These reports typically imply that the richer the country, the better the quality of life. Likewise, there is usually a strong correlation between poverty and unhappiness.

This trend, however, does not seem to apply when it comes to stress. For the third consecutive year, Greece has been named the most stressed country in the world.

59% of those surveyed saying they experienced a lot of stress during the previous day. Another surprise in the top 10 is the USA in seventh place with 55%.

Globally, more than one in three people (35%) said they experienced a lot of stress during the previous day.

“The answer to whether money truly buys happiness is still far from being understood, but this report gives global thinkers an idea of who is living the best and worst lives in the world.” Jon Clifton, Gallup

Most stressed countries: complete ranking

The table below shows the percentage of approximately 1,000 adults, who answered yes when asked, ‘Did you experience stress during a lot of the day yesterday?’

NB: Some countries and territories have been excluded due to insufficient sample sizes.

Rank Country 'Yes' 1 Greece 59% 2 Philippines 58% 3 Tanzania 57% 4 Albania 55% 5 Iran 55% 6 Sri Lanka 55% 7 USA 55% 8 Uganda 53% 9 Costa Rica 52% 10 Rwanda 52% 11 Turkey 52% 12 Venezuela 52% 13 Chad 51% 14 Cyprus 51% 15 Ecuador 51% 16 Iraq 51% 17 Niger 51% 18 Palestinian Territories 51% 19 Sierra Leone 51% 20 Liberia 50% 21 Tunisia 50% 22 Bolivia 49% 23 Canada 49% 24 Madagascar 49% 25 Croatia 48% 26 Ghana 48% 27 Italy 48% 28 Morocco 48% 29 Peru 48% 30 Dominican Republic 46% 31 Lebanon 46% 32 Libya 46% 33 Nicaragua 46% 34 Burkina Faso 45% 35 Egypt 44% 36 UAE 44% 37 Cambodia 43% 38 Colombia 43% 39 El Salvador 43% 40 Guinea 43% 41 Romania 43% 42 Guatemala 42% 43 Haiti 42% 44 Brazil 41% 45 Honduras 41% 46 Kuwait 41% 47 Portugal 41% 48 Belgium 40% 49 Benin 40% 50 China 40% 51 Burundi 39% 52 Ireland 39% 53 Japan 39% 54 Zambia 39% 55 Chile 38% 56 Hungary 38% 57 Israel 38% 58 Malta 38% 59 Slovakia 38% 60 Uruguay 38% 61 Afghanistan 37% 62 Argentina 37% 63 Comoros 37% 64 Mexico 37% 65 Nepal 37% 66 Northern Cyprus 37% 67 Norway 37% 68 South Africa 37% 69 Bangladesh 36% 70 Luxembourg 36% 71 Malawi 36% 72 Saudi Arabia 36% 73 Senegal 36% 74 Australia 35% 75 Cameroon 35% 76 Cote d'Ivoire 35% 77 Finland 35% 78 France 35% 79 Gabon 35% 80 Germany 35% 81 Togo 35% 82 Austria 34% 83 Congo (Republic of) 34% 84 Myanmar 34% 85 Nigeria 34% 86 Slovenia 34% 87 South Korea 34% 88 Spain 34% 89 UK 34% 90 Gambia 33% 91 Kosovo 33% 92 Mauritania 33% 93 Panama 33% 94 Yemen 33% 95 Algeria 32% 96 Bosnia & Herz. 32% 97 Botswana 32% 98 Mali 32% 99 Eswatini (Swaziland) 32% 100 Mozambique 31% 101 New Zealand 31% 102 Pakistan 31% 103 Kenya 30% 104 Montenegro 30% 105 Netherlands 30% 106 Paraguay 30% 107 Serbia 30% 108 Zimbabwe 30% 109 Macedonia 29% 110 Singapore 29% 111 Sweden 29% 112 Ethiopia 28% 113 Switzerland 28% 114 Taiwan 28% 115 Tajikistan 28% 116 Lithuania 27% 117 Namibia 27% 118 Mauritius 25% 119 Malaysia 24% 120 Czech Republic 23% 121 Thailand 23% 122 Georgia 22% 123 India 22% 124 Lao 22% 125 Poland 22% 126 Armenia 21% 127 Moldova 21% 128 Bulgaria 20% 129 Denmark 20% 130 Latvia 20% 131 Belarus 18% 132 Estonia 18% 133 Ukraine 18% 134 Vietnam 18% 135 Russia 17% 136 Azerbaijan 15% 137 Mongolia 14% 138 Indonesia 13% 139 Kazakhstan 13% 140 Kyrgyzstan 13% 141 Uzbekistan 13% 142 Turkmenistan 10%

The entire Gallup 2019 Global Emotions Report can be downloaded here.

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