Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more people around the world were under stress than was true over a decade ago. More than one in three adults (35%) worldwide said they experienced stress during "a lot of the day yesterday" in 2019 -- up six percentage points from the 29% who said so in 2006. In fact, ahead of the pandemic, people reported feeling anger, stress, sadness, worry and physical pain at elevated levels, according to Gallup's 2020 Global Emotions Report.
Based on these data, we know that stress is a pervasive, growing problem across much of the world. We also know that it doesn't have any boundaries. Half of people in Iraq and Ghana -- and the United States -- were stressed last year.
