Turks 'least positive' in the world: Gallup report

People in Turkey are the least likely in the world to report experiencing positive emotions, according to a recent Global Emotions Report by Gallup. "Turkey’s journey to the bottom has been more gradual, as people have been riding an economic roller coaster since 2018," the report said.

Wednesday July 28 2021 04:09 pm

Duvar English

U.S.-based opinion poll firm Gallup's 2021 Global Emotions Report revealed that Turkey was among the unhappiest countries in the world, rating at the bottom of positive experience indexes and the top of negative emotion indexes.

Gallup measured positive emotions in 143 countries by asking people whether they experienced enjoyment a lot, felt respected, felt well-rested, laughed and smiled a lot, and learned or did something interesting the previous day.

Gallup compiled the "yes" results into a Positive Experience Index score for each country.

Only 46 percent of respondents in Turkey listed five positive emotions on the day preceding the survey, putting the country at the bottom of the survey, along with Lebanon.

"Turkey’s journey to the bottom has been more gradual, as people have been riding an economic roller coaster since 2018. Although the country was on the brink of economic collapse throughout most of 2020, it was one of a few that was able to avoid a recession during the pandemic," Gallup said.

"Regardless, the economic and political turmoil has carried a hefty price tag for both countries: The majority of Lebanese people have not experienced enjoyment in their daily lives since 2018, and for Turks, this has been true since 2017."

Only 35 percent of the respondents in Turkey said that they experienced enjoyment in their day, putting the country in the bottom five for the enjoyment index.

Not surprisingly, Turks ranked in the bottom five countries for the rate of smiles they gave out, with only 41 percent of people saying that they smiled or laughed a lot in the preceding day.

Turkey also ranked second in the world with the rate of people who said that they experienced anger in the past day with 44 percent saying they have, surpassed only by Iraq at 51 percent.

Once more, Turkey ranked in the top five as the fourth country with the highest portion of the population who experienced stress in their day.

Separately, Turkey also ranked among the lowest rates of learning, with only 35 percent of people saying that they learned something new in the day before they were surveyed.