THE Philippines remains one of the world’s “most positive” amid the pandemic, according to Gallup’s 2022 Global Emotions Report.
Based on the report, the Philippines was among the top countries that recorded the highest positive experiences in the world. The country scored 81 in Gallup’s Positive Experience Index along with Iceland and Senegal.
The index was topped by Panama with a score of 85 followed by Indonesia and Paraguay with a score of 84 as well as El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, 82. Denmark and South Africa, which recorded a score of 80, were also top performers after the Philippines.
“The Positive Experience Index is based on people’s responses to five questions about positive experiences they had the day before the survey. Higher scores indicate that more of the population reported experiencing these emotions,” Gallup explained.
However, it said the global Positive Experience Index score in 2021 was 69 which was lower than the 71 posted in 2020. The Philippines’s score in 2020 was also 81.
“On top of the increase in negative experiences, fewer people reported that they had positive experiences the previous day. After several years of stability, the Positive Experience Index score in 2021—69—dropped for the first time since 2017,” Gallup said.
Gallup asked 1,200 Filipinos if they felt or experienced 10 emotions, namely, anger, sadness, stress, worry, pain, enjoyment, well-rested, learned, smiled, and respect the day before the survey.
Based on the 2022 report, which relied on 2021 data, Filipino respondents experienced positive emotions. Majority or 95 percent of respondents felt respected and 81 percent smiled the day before the survey was administered.
The Gallup data also showed 78 percent of Filipino respondents felt or experienced enjoyment and learned something in the past 24 hours. A slightly lower percentage of 76 percent said they felt well-rested the day before.
In terms of negative emotions, the highest negative emotion felt by Filipinos was stress, with 48 percent of respondents saying they felt this 24 hours prior to the survey.
This was followed by sadness which was felt by 35 percent of respondents; worry, 34 percent; anger, 27 percent; and pain, 17 percent.
“Latin American countries typically dominate the list of countries where adults report a lot of positive emotions each day,” Gallup said.
“Several countries outside of Latin America that ranked among the most positive in 2020 also made a return appearance in 2021: Iceland, the Philippines and Senegal,” it, however, pointed out.
The results in the Gallup report were based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult population, ages 15 and older.
The Positive Experience Index and Negative Experience Index are calculated from surveys in 122 countries and areas in 2021 and early 2022.
The 2021 results are based on telephone or face-to-face surveys of approximately 1,000 or more respondents per country or area. Gallup conducted 3,500 interviews in China, 3,000 in India, and 2,000 in the Russian Federation.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error ranges between ±2 and ±5.5 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
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