Malta among top three countries in the world experiencing chronic worrying – Gallup

With 61% of Maltese adults reporting chronic worrying in a global study published this week, Malta ranks among the top three countries worldwide for this metric.

According to Gallup’s new State of the World’s Emotional Health report, Malta scores just below Sierra Leone (67%) and Guinea (66%), with Rwanda (61%) and Chad (60%) rounding up the top five.

Citizens in all other top five countries are exposed to elevated danger levels on a daily basis, which makes the finding about Malta – a peaceful European member state with no active conflicts – all the more concerning.

According to the US State Department’s advisory for international travel, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Rwanda all carry a Level 2 risk indicator, advising increased caution due to unrest and crime. Chad was set at Level 3, with a note suggesting travellers should “reconsider” due to a higher risk of unrest, crime, kidnapping, and terrorism.

Malta is set at Level 1, with no specific references to any risk factors. “Worry also remained high in Malta (61%), which has struggled to balance its strong economic growth with social and environmental sustainability,” the report adds.

According to a local survey published on Sunday, the country’s top five concerns are overpopulation (22.3% of respondents), traffic (20.3%), inflation (13.4%), foreign workers (9.9%), and corruption (8.2%).

These concerns, which are all broadly linked to Malta’s infrastructure capacity and governance, are further aggravated by widespread public anger over overdevelopment.

On Monday, a broad coalition of organisations announced the second mass protest to be held this month, calling on the government to scrap the proposed legislation that would effectively neuter crucial environmental safeguards within Malta’s planning system.

‘On emotional edge’

Describing a world “on an emotional edge”, Gallup’s global findings make for sobering reading.”Worry was high in several countries with overlapping forms of fragility in 2024. From coup attempts and prolonged military rule to contested elections and violent insurgencies, each faced situations that eroded political stability, strained institutions and left citizens with heightened insecurity in daily life,” the report states.

Last year, levels of worry across the globe reached pre-pandemic levels, but still hovered 5 points above scores reported a decade ago.

In 2024, 39% of adults worldwide reported worrying the previous day, and 37% reported feeling stressed. Over 3o% said they experience physical pain daily. Twenty-six per cent experience sadness daily. Twenty-two per cent said they experienced anger.

Besides collecting responses as part of the study, the report cross-references those responses with the Global Peace Index (GPI) and the Positive Peace Index (PPI), finding substantial overlap between more negative emotions in less peaceful and democratically unstable countries.

“As the world’s mood has soured, it has also become less stable, with rising political unrest, more conflicts and higher death tolls. The Global Peace Index (GPI), which tracks the absence of violence and conflict across 163 countries, shows riots, strikes and anti‑government demonstrations rose 244% from 2011 to 2019 — notably, even before the pandemic,” the report notes.

Besides measuring negative emotional responses, the report also cites data about daily positive experiences.

Unsurprisingly, more stable and peaceful countries reported more positive numbers. Last year, 88% of adults worldwide said they were treated respectfully the previous date, with an additional 73% reporting positive experiences like smiling, laughing, and enjoyment on a daily basis.

“The new findings show that anger and sadness are strongly tied to weaker scores…this means Gallup’s emotion metrics likely reflect more than the immediate absence of conflict. They also mirror the deeper foundations of sustainable peace — the kind of peace that depends on justice, wellbeing and security in daily life,” the report concludes.