Ever notice how much everything sucks lately? The good news is, you’re not alone. The bad news is, the world really is more miserable than ever before.
According to a world-wide analysis of well-being, global rates of sadness, anger and fear reached record highs in 2018, CNN reported. For the second consecutive year, all three emotions saw a record-breaking increase in Gallup’s annual Global State of Emotions report.
Based on the report, Chad currently holds the unfortunate title of most miserable country in the world. It’s followed by Niger and Sierra Leone, while Iraq and Iran round out the top 5.
Chad’s quality of life has seen a continuous decline since a 2014 fall in oil prices left the nation in a deep recession. Currently, almost six million of the country’s 15 million citizens live in extreme poverty. According to Gallup, 72 percent of Chadians reported having struggled to afford food at some point throughout the last year. Meanwhile, citizens of the country were also unable to access the internet for the majority of 2018 after the government shut it down.
“The country’s overall score at least partly reflects the violence, displacement and the collapse of basic services in parts of Chad that have affected thousands of families,” Gallup wrote.
Gallup has charted the world’s emotional well-being every year since 2006. The most recent report includes data collected from 151,000 interviews with adults in over 140 countries.
On the bright side, Latin American countries took the lead among the world’s happiest nations. Paraguay took the top spot, followed closely by Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. According to Gallup, these high scores “reflect the cultural tendency in the region to focus on life’s positives.”
Interestingly, while the world reached new levels of misery this year, Gallup also recorded ties with 2013, 2014 and 2015 for record levels of positivity, which could signal an increasing inequality in emotional well-being in different parts of the world.
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