2020 was the most stressful year for all, but women were hit the hardest: survey

In a not-so-surprising revelation, a new global survey of emotions in 2020 says that the pandemic year was a record year for stress, worry, anger and sadness. Stress levels, in particular, skyrocketed in 2020 with 40 per cent of all adults surveyed reporting a significant rise.

The Gallup 2021 Global Emotions Index says that this is the highest in 15 years. But the worst of this brunt was faced by women who were caring for young children at home during the pandemic.

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The Gallup survey said that half of all the people who were working during the pandemic earned less money and 32% lost their jobs, all thanks to Covid-19. Overall, 80% of the people from the 116 countries surveyed said Covid-19 affected them in some way or the other.

In the span of a year, the percentage of people who said they smiled or laughed a lot the previous day also dropped from 75% to 70%, which is incidentally the lowest measure Gallup has ever recorded for this question.