Ireland has been ranked among Europe's "most stressful" countries in new research that looks at the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living across the continent.
The study, carried out by CBD company cbdolie.nl, examined European countries on the categories of depression prevalence, anxiety prevalence, reports of stress levels, reports of sadness levels, reports of enjoyment levels, and average weekly hours worked, to discover the continent’s most stressed countries.
Each factor was then included in an index to create an overall ‘stress score’ out of 100.
The survey was conducted in 35 countries, but Ukraine and Russia were omitted from the rankings due to the ongoing war.
The study reveals that Greece is the most stressed country in Europe, totalling the highest stress score of 71.8 out of 100. Greece topped the list after scoring high for both reports of stress and depression prevalence.
Greece has a depression prevalence of 6.52 per cent, the highest rate in Europe as well as 57 per cent of respondents reporting frequent stress, the second-highest rate of all European countries.
Turkey ranks as the second most-stressed country in Europe, with a total stress score of 71.2.
Turkey was listed highest in Europe for reports of high stress levels, with 64 per cent of residents citing feeling stressed frequently. Turkey also ranked highest in Europe for frequent feelings of sadness with 49 per cent of respondents reporting feeling this way often.
Portugal places as the third most stressed country in Europe with a stress score of 68.4 out of 100. The Iberian nation has the third-highest rate of depression in Europe at 5.88 per cent of respondents reporting frequent feelings of depression.
Malta and Cyprus rank fourth and fifth. Malta, ranked highly due to high-levels of weekly working hours of 37.9 hours and prominent levels of frequent feelings of anxiety with 6.97 per cent of respondents reporting as such. Overall, Malta receives a Stress Score of 51.4 out of 100.
Cyprus reports slightly higher levels of frequent anxiety with 7.22 per cent however, ranks lower than Malta for frequent feelings of sadness of 22 per cent compared to Malta’s 25 per cent, and on average works 0.2 fewer hours than Malta at 37.7, giving Cyprus a Stress Score of 50.4 out of 100.
Ireland came in sixth place as one of Europe's most stressed countries with a stress ranking of 49.2 out of 100, followed by Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland to make up the top 10 most stressed countries in Europe.
In contrast, Denmark ranks as the least stressed country in Europe with a stress score of 21.7 out of 100.
When broken down, only 12 per cent of respondents in Denmark claimed to often feel little enjoyment and pleasure, the second lowest behind Iceland, low feelings of frequent stress at just 21 per cent of respondents citing this and only 5.43 per cent of respondents feeling anxious frequently.
Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for CBDolie.nl said: "The past five years have provided a constant source of uncertainty for many due to increased cost-of-living, the pandemic and more, so it’s no surprise to see that stress levels across Europe are so high."
