Suffering, on average, has increased worldwide in the past several years, and nowhere more than in South Asia, a latest Gallop worldwide poll shows. According to a report published by the US-based opinion poll agency on 26th November, Tuesday,  one in seven adults worldwide rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering in 2012. ‘South Asia led the world in suffering at 24%, followed by 21% in the Balkans and the Middle East and North Africa. South Asia clearly registers the biggest increase in suffering during this period and because of its large population, it is mostly responsible for the worldwide uptick. Suffering in the region has increased enormously since the beginning of the global financial and economic crisis, averaging 12% between 2006 and 2008, and 22% between 2010 and 2012.” states the report. The agency said that comparing average suffering for 2006-2008 with the average for 2010-2012, suffering increased by three percentage points worldwide. 

 

India Mainly Drives Deterioration of Well-Being in South Asia

According to the Gallop report, the massive increase in suffering among South Asians is largely attributable to negative developments in India, the region’s giant. Average suffering in India more than doubled between 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2012. In 2012, a full quarter of Indians were suffering. “The significant deterioration in Indians’ well-being is likely to be rooted in the country’s disappointing economic performance,” says the report. India’s growth rate has now sunk from 9.4% in the first quarter of 2010 to 4.4% in the second quarter of 2013, the worst quarterly rate since 2002.

 

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Nepal no Better

India’s northern neighbor Nepal has fared no better, said the report adding that average suffering there increased by 17 percentage points between 2006-2008 and 2010-2012. “Yet because of its relatively small population, the increase in suffering had a negligible effect on the regional average. Since Nepal abolished the monarchy five years ago, the country has been mired in a political crisis that has paralysed the economy,” Gallop said. 

 

Other big increases in suffering in recent years have been registered in Armenia (+17 points) and Greece (+13 points). Greece’s economic collapse, record unemployment, and drastic austerity measures contributed to suffering reaching 26% in 2012. Gallup’s trend data clearly show Armenians souring in recent years on issues such as their standard of living, and rising frustration with their leaders.

 

Most countries with the biggest decreases in suffering, comparing the three-year average from 2006 to 2008 with that from 2010 to 2012, are from Sub-Saharan Africa. Suffering in Zimbabwe has decreased by as much as 38 percentage points. “After years of hyperinflation, the Zimbabwean government finally abandoned the country’s currency in 2009. As a result, the economy started growing again, improving the lives of many Zimbabweans,” states the report. Similarly, Latin America and the Caribbean also defied the global trend. Between 2010 and 2012, residents of the region were on average less likely to be suffering than they were before the outbreak of the global economic crisis.