— For the third year in a row, Bulgaria in 2012 once again had the negative distinction of leading the global suffering list, with 39% of Bulgarians rating their lives poorly enough to be considered “suffering.” However, this time, Bulgaria is not alone at the top. Thirty-seven percent of Armenians were suffering, and Cambodians, Haitians, Hungarians, Malagasy, Macedonians, and Iranians followed closely behind.

Gallup classifies respondents as “thriving,” “struggling,” or “suffering” according to how they rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps numbered from zero to 10 based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. 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.

In 20 out of 143 countries and areas surveyed in 2012, at least a quarter of the adult population rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering.

Suffering was 2% or less in 17 countries and areas — most of them wealthier and more developed countries. Some developing countries also made this list: Thailand, Venezuela, Nigeria, the Somaliland region, and Libya.

Results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, per country.