This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, the Philippine government sponsored mass-wedding ceremonies for hundreds of couples. It seemed fitting for a country that marked Valentine’s Day 10 years ago by setting a world record for the number of couples simultaneously kissing for 10 seconds (the final tally: 5,122). And it’s also appropriate for a country where a whopping 93 percent of people report feeling loved.
That last stat comes from what the economist Justin Wolfers has described as “the most comprehensive global index of love ever constructed.” In 2006 and 2007, Gallup asked people in 136 countries whether they had experienced love the previous day.
The researchers found that on a typical day, roughly 70 percent of the world’s population reports feeling love. The world leader in love turned out to be the Philippines, where more than 90 percent said they had experienced love, and the world’s laggard Armenia, where only 29 percent of respondents did. In the United States, 81 percent replied in the affirmative. (Click on the map to expand it.)
