Is the world getting less miserable?

More or Less

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

When you follow the news, particularly in countries like the UK and the US, it sometimes feels like people are less optimistic about their lives than they were in the past. But a new piece of analysis from polling company Gallup suggests this might just be the local view, not the global one. Using data from the Gallup World Poll, it suggests that “people in more countries are living better lives and expressing more hope for the future” than at any point in the last decade.

Tim Harford speaks to Gallup’s Benedict Vigers, who wrote the report, to understand what improvements in the “global median for thriving” really means. If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should look at, email the team: [email protected]

Presenter: Tim Harford Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Bob Nettles Editor: Richard Vadon

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:05.6	Your time starts now.
0:07.2	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:09.4	Absolutely right.
0:11.5	So, you might like to know that the BBC makes loads of other podcasts.
0:15.6	Really?
0:16.4	Wow.
0:17.2	Many of them are very funny.
0:19.1	Which I think means...
0:20.3	A hatful of ha-hars. And energy. Even if we do very funny. Which I think means a hatful of ha ha haas.
0:21.7	And energy.
0:39.3	Even if you do say so ourselves. I agree 100% to that. Find them all on BBC Sounds. Just tell us a joke. Come on, tell us a joke. Tell us a joke. Come on, tell us a joke. Just search comedy on BBC Sounds. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. Hello, and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast.
0:39.1	With a program that looks at the numbers in the news, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. Hello and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast.
0:42.7	With a programme that looks at the numbers in the news and in life and in international polling, I'm Tim Harford.
0:51.7	Things sometimes feel a little bleak when we look at the news.
0:55.4	Wars rage, robots rise, Marvel continues to make superhero movies.
1:01.0	So we were somewhat surprised when we saw a recent piece of analysis by the polling firm Gallup.
1:07.3	Here's the first line.
1:09.1	Worldwide, people in more countries are living better lives and expressing more hope for the future than they have in years.
1:16.3	Better lives?
1:17.7	Hope?
1:18.7	What's not to like?
	...

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