State of the World's Emotional Health 2025

We seem to be living in a time of great anxiety; wars, deepening economic inequality and the climate crisis are making many of us increasingly unable to cope with our emotional states. How does the global peace and health situation affect our well-being? We will find out by reading a new report prepared by Gallup in collaboration with the World Health Summit State of the World's Emotional Health 2025. This analysis, in order to show the relationship between peace and negative emotions, was based on data from more than 145,000 interviews conducted in 144 countries and regions.

The state of emotional health in the world

When faced with serious emotional challenges, our well-being begins to deteriorate - and this is not solely due to our individual life attitudes. On the contrary, it is often the result of the reality in which we have come to live. The proof is the results of research showing a strong link between feelings of sadness, anger and worry and the situation in a given country - whether it is experiencing threats, war, danger or lack of social harmony.

The latest Gallup World Poll report from 2024 shows that globally, more and more adults are struggling with stress and worry. As many as 39% admitted that they felt severe worry the previous day, and 37% - a lot of stress. This is an increase compared to a decade ago and a signal that hundreds of millions of people experience daily emotional difficulties. Despite this, positive emotions remain at a stable level. Most people still feel respected (88%) and experience laughter, joy and good rest every day (about 73%). This shows that despite the crisis of emotions, we can also feed on hope. However, it is undoubtedly still extremely important to treat peace not only in political terms, but in human terms - as an element common to our daily experiences and choices.

Peace, health and well-being: how do they combine?

New research shows that anger and sadness are closely linked to lower scores on both the Global Peace Index, which measures the absence of violence and conflict, and the Positive Peace Index, which assesses institutions and structures that support long-term stability. This shows that Gallup's measures of emotion reflect not only a situation where there is no conflict in a given region, but it highlights much deeper foundations contributing to the stabilization of lasting peace. These funds are, for example, justice, security and well-being in everyday life. These are the values of social life that, when we are not threatened by a more serious crisis, we often forget to recognize and appreciate - and it is precisely these principles that prevail in a given country that build the resilience of societies to larger crises, sometimes coming from outside, for example, such as the climate crisis or war.

These dependencies are of direct relevance to health. Gallup's data show that negative everyday emotions are linked to shorter life expectancy. In places where peace is fragile, people are more likely to experience anger and sadness, and populations live shorter lives on average. These results highlight why the UN Sustainable Development Goals — SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) — cannot be treated separately. When there is a lack of peace, health systems and communities weaken, and everyday life becomes more difficult and less safe. When peace is present, health and emotional well-being have a chance to thrive. Emotions can thus serve as a kind of “vital indicators” of the state of our societies. You can read more about the goals of the United Nations in our articles: Sustainable Development Goal: Health and well-being and Sustainable Development Goal: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

The importance of culture and latitude for our well-being

People's daily emotions depend not only on what they feel at the level of individual control over their emotions, but also on the culture in which they live. In some societies, showing joy is a cultural custom, making people more likely to admit that they laughed or smiled the day before. In others, on the other hand, restraint is valued, so the feeling of pleasure can be underestimated, even when the standard of living is high.

What we consider happiness is defined differently in different cultures. In some parts of the world, despite the apparent habits of smiling and positive attitudes (often seen in Western cultures, such as the American one), there are hidden problems that people are ashamed to show. In eastern countries, such as post-communist countries, restrained expression of emotions has become the norm - which can translate into difficulties in seeking professional help in a mental crisis, and sometimes lead to solving problems through alcohol abuse. Of course, these are some simplifications - each country, despite certain cultural tendencies, also differs at the level of smaller regions and communities.

The same goes for negative emotions: in some cultures, people downplay stress or worry to show strength, while in others they talk openly about them.

Some countries - such as Denmark, Paraguay or Indonesia - are often at the forefront in terms of positive everyday experiences, such as laughter, pleasure or a sense of respect. Mexico, Panama and Guatemala also rank high, which shows that positive emotions are not reserved exclusively for the richest or safest countries. Culture and social life play an important role here, which shape the way of experiencing and expressing feelings. We wrote about the level of happiness in individual countries in our previous article. The happiest country in the world 2025? We check which place Poland took in the ranking of the World Happiness Report.

 summary

Global peace, health and emotional well-being are closely intertwined — a lack of peace in the country translates into more stress, anger and a shorter life expectancy. At the same time, culture and everyday social experiences shape how we feel joy, laughter or a sense of respect. A new report by Gallup and the World Health Summit shows that investing in peace and just institutions is key to the health and well-being of entire societies. Sources:

1. https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349280/state-of-worlds-emotional-health.aspx
2. https://www.who.int/news/item/02-09-2025-over-a-billion-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-services-require-urgent-scale-up