The recently-published Gallup Global Emotions Report, which gathers data by asking people from 140 countries around the globe about what emotions they experience, has found that stress levels in Malta are rising.
Even though worldwide, there has been a positive post-COVID rebound, meaning that less people are feeling anxious after the pandemic, with positive emotions like enjoyment, learning something new and feeling respecting rising back to pre-COVID, Malta’s results are a mixed bag.
Whilst there were marginal improvements for 1-2 percentage points on many indicators (22% feeling anger in comparison with 24% last year, for example), the percentage of those who felt respected slipped slightly by 1%, and less Maltese felt well-rested.
The situation with regards to stress worsened. 55%, which means more than half the adult population in Malta, admitted to feeling stressed.
On enjoyment, however, we rank in the bottom 25% of all 142 countries surveyed.
Prof. Marie Briguglio, an Associate Professor from the Department of Economics within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, who is a Principal Investigator of the Malta Wellbeing Index, who read through the report thoroughly, said there are only three countries where people worry more than the Maltese: Israel, Guinea and Afghanistan.
There are only nine countries where people stress more than Malta: Northern Cyprus, Israel, Nigeria, TĂĽrkiye, Tanzania, Lebanon, Greece, Egypt, and Sri Lanka.
“There is an urgent need to research these persistent levels of stress and worry. Together with the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, the UM will continue investigating this phenomenon to address the underlying causes and promote policy solutions”, she said.
