(Original text is from Life Beyond Growth)
http://lifebeyondgrowth.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/gallup-reports-that-more-than-one-in-ten-is-suffering-worldwide/

The research-based consulting company Gallup has recently published the results of their well-being survey for 2011. The survey, conducted with approximately 1,000 adults in each of the 146 examined countries, showed that an average of 13% of adults worldwide rated their lives poorly enough to be considered "suffering." This number varied greatly across the world's countries, with values as high as 45% in Bulgaria and as low as 1% or less in the United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Thailand, and Brazil.

In the survey, Gallup uses the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (0 to 10 scale) to classify respondents as "thriving" (wellbeing that is strong, consistent, and progressing), "struggling" (wellbeing that is moderate or inconsistent) or "suffering" (wellbeing that is at high risk). Gallup considers people to be suffering if they rate their current lives a 4 or lower and their lives in five years a 4 or lower. The respondents do not label themselves as suffering.

The survey shows that the countries where "suffering" is highest are primarily a mix of European, African, and Asian nations. In the majority of countries, the percentage changed little at the country level in 2011 compared with 2010, although exceptions exist such as rising number of people who "suffer" in El Salvador, or a decreasing number in Macedonia. On average, global suffering has remained relatively unchanged over the past several years.