Emotional Index – Meaning, Calculation, and Global Mood Score
An Emotional Index is a single number that summarizes how people feel over a certain period of time. Instead of looking at dozens of emotion categories, the index compresses them into one easy-to-read score.
What Is an Emotional Index?
In general terms, an emotional index is a metric that combines positive and negative emotions into one value. It can be used to represent:
- The overall mood of a country or region.
- The emotional impact of a specific event.
- Changes in wellbeing over time.
How the Global Emotions Index Uses an Emotional Index
On globalemotionsindex.com, users select one emotion from a fixed list. Each emotion is mapped internally to a numeric weight. For example:
- Strongly positive emotions (joy, gratitude) receive higher positive weights.
- Neutral or mixed emotions receive values close to zero.
- Negative emotions (sadness, anger, fear) receive negative weights.
When aggregated, these weights are averaged to form a global mood score or emotional index for a given time window (e.g., current day or week).
Interpreting the Score
While the exact scale can vary, a simple interpretation is:
- High positive value: emotions are mostly positive worldwide.
- Value near zero: emotions are balanced or mixed.
- Strong negative value: negative emotions dominate.
Because the index is based on voluntary submissions, it should be viewed as a live signal rather than a definitive scientific measurement.
Why an Emotional Index Is Useful
Turning raw emotions into a single index makes it easier to:
- Compare mood across countries or regions.
- Spot sudden changes in emotions after global events.
- Track long-term trends in wellbeing.
Explore the Live Emotional Index
To see the emotional index in action, open the statistics panel and observe how the distribution of emotions changes throughout the day.