State of the World’s Emotional Health 2026

Gallup’s State of the World’s Emotional Health report, released in partnership with the World Health Summit, brings global evidence on emotional health to leaders and policymakers worldwide. The report investigates how people experience their emotions and evaluate their lives. Now in its second year, the 2026 report takes a closer look at social media and wellbeing, as well as emotional health in populations experiencing prolonged crisis.

Gallup has tracked emotions such as worry, stress, enjoyment and sadness across the world for two decades, offering a consistent, comparable view of emotional wellbeing across countries and over time. The long-running measure gives context for newer global research about people’s life experiences, such as how social media use relates to people’s feelings and how people experience negative and positive emotions in places in crisis.

In 2026, Gallup asked adults aged 15 and older whether they had used any type of social media in the past seven days and, if so, how much time they typically spend using it in a day. There were five response options including 1) less than 30 minutes, 2) 30 minutes to less than one hour, 3) one hour to less than two hours, 4) two hours to less than five hours, and 5) five hours or more. A sixth category was implied to indicate no time for those who did not use social media at all in the past seven days. Because wellbeing does not rise or fall as time spent on social media increases, Gallup examines time spent in three categories:

• No use/Low use: No social media use or less than 30 minutes a day
• Moderate use: 30 minutes to less than two hours a day
• High use: Two hours or more a day

According to the State of the World’s Emotional Health 2026 report, the relationship between social media and wellbeing is not straightforward. Social media use is associated with several favorable outcomes, but time spent on social media tells a more complicated story. Moderate use is associated with relatively higher wellbeing across many measures, while high use is associated with more negative emotions and low use with fewer positive emotions and lower life evaluation.

Global emotional health remains strained, particularly in places experiencing prolonged crisis. Negative emotions in 2025 remained well above the levels Gallup measured two decades ago. Yet positive emotions can persist alongside considerable distress, underscoring the importance of considering both dimensions of emotional health.

Gallup’s latest complete global data on negative and positive emotions and experiences were fielded in 2025 in 140 countries and areas. Other results in the State of the World’s Emotional Health report are based on Gallup World Poll surveys conducted in 2026 among adults aged 15 and older in 97 countries and areas. In most countries, approximately 1,000 adults were interviewed using nationally representative, probability-based samples, by telephone or face to face depending on local coverage and conditions.

See the full methodology by downloading the 2026 report.