Unhappiness on the rise globally, Gallup says

Gallup survey finds unhappiness on the rise.

By Steven A. Morelli

How is everybody doing?

If you look at the productivity of the world, it generally increases over time, with an occasional dip. Poverty overall is decreasing, again with interruptions, but people are generally better off materially. So, people are doing well and better all the time, right?

Not so right, according to Gallup, which has been monitoring happiness for the past 16 years. Gallup showed in its book, Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It, that unhappiness is a growth market – and last year was a boffo one for unhappiness.

“Unhappiness has been rising worldwide for a decade, but almost every world leader missed it,” wrote Jon Clifton, Gallup CEO. “Why? Because they were focused on measures like GDP and unemployment. Almost none of them were paying attention to how people were feeling.”

Gallup claims its data represents 98% of the world’s population and it shows that the unhappiness index has been on a steady increase since 2010 with some exceptions. The latest findings were based on nearly 127,000 interviews with adults in 122 countries.

While the discussion around inequality has targeted economics, it should be focused on another kind of inequity, according to Clifton.

“Leaders understand income inequality – the growing divide between the financial haves and have-nots,” Clifton wrote. “What they are not familiar with is the growing divide between the haves and have-nots of a great life. This is called wellbeing inequality.”

But the two types have something in common – they are both becoming more extreme.

The happy gap

The survey asked people to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10. The scale is a ladder that the respondents are asked to imagine themselves on. If they were living their best possible life, they would say they were standing on the top rung at No. 10. If they were at their worst, they would not even be on the ladder at zero.

The people at the top doubled since the survey started while people at the bottom quadrupled.
Broadening the perspective shows the top 20% enjoying a slight improvement over the period, while the bottom 20% experiencing a steady slide since 2006. Last year, the gap between the top 20% and bottom 20% was at its widest.

While the Negative Experience Index has been increasing over the past decade, the Positive Experience Index has been relatively flat overall. In fact, it had its worst drop last year.

“Already at or near record highs in 2020, experiences of stress, worry and sadness ticked upward in 2021 and set new records,” according to Gallup’s latest annual Global Emotions report. “Worry rose two points, while stress and sadness increased one point. The percentage of adults worldwide who experienced pain also rebounded two points, matching levels more in line with previous estimates.”

Human contact cited

If economic inequality is growing, so shouldn’t the happiness divide? The latest increase in unhappiness can be attributed partly to a rise in material deficiencies such as food, but less tangible shortages played a big role, such as human contact.

“The world is also struggling from a silent pandemic — loneliness,” according to the latest annual report. “Gallup finds that 330 million adults go at least two weeks without talking to a single friend or family member. And just because some people have friends, it doesn’t mean they have good friends. One fifth of all adults do not have a single person they can count on for help.”

So, happiness inequality is not just related to economic inequality. Looking at the most fulfilled people showed that happiness has five components: career, social, financial, physical and community. The happiest people have fulfilling work, little financial stress, great community, good health and dependable loved ones.

“The 20% of people who rate their lives the worst have very little of any of those things,” according to the Gallup book. “They don't have a quality job, their income is not enough to get by, they live in broken communities, they are hungry or malnourished, and they don't have anyone in their life they can count on for help. And the 20% who rate their lives this low are getting sadder, more stressed and angrier than ever before.”

What can employers do?

Wellbeing is not just physical wellness, although it is an important component. An employee wellness program should be broader than tips and a gym membership for starters. But even then, employers need to be fully behind the effort.

Workers have to know about the program and be encouraged to use it. Even though more than 85% of large companies offer a workplace wellness program, Gallup showed that 60% of the employees were aware of the program and only 40% who are aware actually use the program.

That means only 24% of employees use wellness programs when they are available. The difference between using and not using the program and its inherent value depends on the company itself.

“Literature reviews on the efficacy of wellness programs show mixed results,” Gallup reported. “The impact depends highly on the quality and nuances of the program and, importantly, the underlying organizational culture.”

Steven A. Morelli is a contributing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. He has more than 25 years of experience as a reporter and editor for newspapers and magazines. He was also vice president of communications for an insurance agents’ association. Steve can be reached at [email protected].