If you feel less stressed, sad, angry and worried than a year ago you're in good company, according to Gallup's latest annual report into the world's mood.
Despite ongoing warfare and economic crises, the Global Emotions Report for 2023 found that the world's overall emotional health was in a better state, with negative emotions dipping for the first time in a decade and positive emotions bouncing back to their pre-pandemic highs.
Some of the findings were unsurprising. Following the signing of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement Azerbaijan enjoyed the world's biggest fall in stress levels – dropping from 40% to 14% in 12 months.
But some results were more startling. For instance, even as their nation continued to be ravaged by war, only 32% of Ukrainians said they had experienced stress, while in Britain that figure was 38% and in the US it was 51%.
And despite news headlines from Latin America frequently focusing on turmoil and unrest, Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala and Mexico topped the positivity index. Julie Ray, editor of Gallup Global News, told Time magazine that part of the explanation for that was a level of social and cultural resilience amid challenges.
The report is a "timely reminder" that it's "possible to appreciate the positive things in our own lives", and that it "might help" to "spend a little less time looking out of our digital windows on to the world".
As "trite" as it sounds, the answer to greater happiness "may be as simple as logging off" because as the "peak-pandemic era recedes further into the rear view" more people "appear to be getting comfortable with being out in the world again". | 
