The World's Angriest Countries

Nearly everybody experiences anger in everyday life, whether it's frustrations about making ends meet, the state of public transport or a misunderstanding at work. Gallup's 2021 Global Emotions Report set out to gauge emotions (including anger levels) in more than 100 countries around the globe. Anger tends to manifest itself more often in certain parts of the world, particularly in the Middle and Near East.

Gallup found that 49 percent of people in Lebanon had experienced anger on the day before they were surveyed, the highest rate recorded anywhere in the world. After years-long economic turmoil and high inflation, a massive explosion in Beirut's port destroyed large parts of the city in 2020, once more stoking anger at the country's government for not enforcing safety measure or having the capacity to help those who were harmed.

High levels of anger were also measured in Turkey, which had been dealing with runaway inflation even before the war in Ukraine and whose government has taken a turn for the authoritarian lately. Armenians, who experienced a flare-up of war in 2020 with neighbor Azerbaijan, also had elevated levels of anger. After years of war, Iraqis and Afghans also have a long list of topics to be angry about which includes a lack of basic public services in many parts of the countries.

Mali and Sierra Leone were the angriest countries outside the Middle East, Near East and Persia, with 35 percent of respondents having experienced anger the previous day.

In terms of stress, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sierra Leone showed the highest share of respondents experiencing this emotion with 68, 65 and 61 percent, respectively, in Gallup's Global Emotions report.