women are more angry and stressed now than in the last decade

Women across the globe are angrier today than a decade ago, according to new data, Global Emotions Report,  shared by the Gallup World Poll, which measures people’s positive and negative experiences worldwide.

The Gallup World Poll has surveyed more than 120,000 people in more than 150 countries each year, and sought to get feedback from the participants around several lifestyle questions, including what emotions they felt for much of the previous day.

According to the report, In 2021, people worldwide felt more worried, stressed, and sad than at any time in the past 16 years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. They also had fewer positive experiences than they did in 2020. However, women reported feeling much more stress, worry, anger, and sadness more often than men.

The 2020 Covid 19 pandemic period seemed to have aggravated more feelings of anger and sadness in women. 

The report however we cannot blame the state of sadness on the pandemic alone. 

“While 2020 set a record for negative emotions, the trend actually started almost 10 years ago,” Jon Clifton Global Managing Partner, Gallup.

Political and economic turmoil have been cited as major common causes of rising negative emotions. The other key triggers of the global rise in negative emotions are global hunger, a lack of freedom, rising corruption, and income inequality.

“Lebanon’s political turmoil, which culminated in the explosion at the Port of Beirut, saw negative emotions skyrocket. Greece’s long economic fallout following the 2008 global recession saw a similar historic rise in negative emotions”. 

Why are emotions important?

According to Gallup the Global emotions Report helps to give leaders insights into the emotional health of their societies, which traditional economic indicators don’t capture.

The report further gives the following reasons why emotions are important. 

• Emotion is a fundamental element of the human experience.
• How people feel affects life outcomes and is a definitive indicator of societal health and progress.