Survey: Latin Americans Most Positive, Middle Easterners Least Positive - East Idaho News
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Survey: Latin Americans Most Positive, Middle Easterners Least Positive

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(WASHINGTON) — People from Latin American countries are the most likely to experience positive emotion on a daily basis and those from the Middle East are among the least likely to report positivity, says a new Gallup poll.

The poll measured positive emotions in 143 countries by asking residents whether they experienced much enjoyment, if they felt respected and well-rested, if they laughed and smiled frequently, and whether they learned or did something interesting the previous day.

The six countries with the highest percentage of responders who said that they did experience positive emotions were all from Latin America. Paraguay and Venezuela topped the list with 86 percent of responders in each country responding positively. Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia rounded out the top five, each with over 80 percent positivity in 2012.

The U.S. finished tied for 21st in the poll with 77 percent of Americans saying they were content.

On the contrary, the results showed that just 46 percent of people in Syria and 47 percent in Iraq experience all of the above positive emotions, placing those two nations at the bottom of the list.

Gallup has tracked positive emotions since 2006 and has seen very little fluctuation. Only four countries saw changes of 10 percent of more between 2011 and 2012. The country with the biggest increase in positive emotions was Singapore with an astounding 24 percent increase in positivity. Syria saw the study’s largest decrease, with positive responses dropping 14 percent since 2011.

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