MANILA - The Philippines is among the world's most emotional countries in 2018, according to a global well-being index.

Six in 10 Filipinos reported experiencing positive or negative emotions the previous day the poll was conducted, the Gallup 2019 Global Emotions Report found.

The Philippines, along with Niger, Liberia and Ecuador, had an average 60-percent "yes" response among respondents, making up the top tier in the list of 12.

They were followed by Costa Rica, Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea, and Peru at 59 percent, and Nicaragua, Honduras, Sri Lanka, and Guatemala at 58 percent.

Meanwhile, fewer than 4 in 10 residents in Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Latvia reported experiencing any positive or negative feeling.

The rating averaged responses on both the positive and negative experience indices that Gallup asked respondents.

Positive experience index questions checked on whether respondents smiled or laughed a lot, were well-rested, treated with respect, learned something interesting and experienced enjoyment the previous day.

Negative experience index questions, meanwhile, asked respondents whether they experienced physical pain, worry, sadness, stress or anger.

Sociologist Clifford Sorita said the Gallup report shows that Filipinos are "in touch" with their emotions and does not necessarily mean they are predisposed to "place our feelings above our intellect."

"Rather, the positive and negative questions asked in the survey regarding our day-to-day experiences reveals that Filipinos are “in-touch” with our emotions and that we do not hide behind them. This is possible because we have a strong social support mechanism of family and friends, which allows us to ventilate how we feel and cope with these emotions in a healthy way," he told ABS-CBN News.

The study also found that globally, people were angrier, sadder, and felt more worried in 2018, setting a new record.

Although overall stress levels dropped by 2 points to 35 percent, anger levels increased by 2 points to 22 percent, hitting a new high.

Chad was identified as the world's most negative country, followed by Niger, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Iran.

Meanwhile, Latin American countries such as Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador were among the world's most positive countries.

The study was conducted using telephone and face-to-face
interviews with some 1,000 respondents age 15 and older. It has a margin of error of ±2.1 to ±5.3 percentage points.