You wouldn't like me when I'm angry: UK women are angriest and saddest in Europe as overall health drops down league table

Published: 22:08, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 22:10, 2 June 2026 Forget reserved and polite, UK women are actually the angriest in Europe, a global study has found. Nearly one in four British women reported feeling ‘angry’ compared with around one in seven in European Union countries, the survey of more than 140 countries has found. And while anger rates have remained stable in the EU on average, women in the UK were 47 per cent more likely to say they felt angry than the previous year, according to the latest Hologic Global Women’s Health Index survey. It comes as the UK was revealed to be on the verge of dropping out of the top third of countries worldwide for women’s health and wellbeing. It ranked at just 48th out of 144 nations analysed in the annual global index - published today - compared with 41st in 2025’s report and 37th in 2024. East Asian nations including Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore dominated the top rankings globally, but European countries which out-performed the UK included Latvia, in second place, Poland, in fifth, and Germany (7th), Austria (8th), Slovakia (9th), Switzerland (10th) and Denmark (11th). Nearly one in four British women reported feeling ‘angry’ compared with around one in seven in European Union countries, the survey of more than 140 countries has found The worst-performing countries were Chad, Liberia and Sierra Leone, while the lowest-scoring European nation was Ukraine, in 106th place. Afghanistan, which has ranked bottom in recent years, did not take part in the latest survey. The annual report, which polls more than 76,000 women and girls over the age of 15 worldwide, found three in ten UK women said they felt ‘sadness’, compared with the EU average of 25 per cent. Around four in ten women in both the UK and EU felt ‘worry’. A third of women in the UK reported being in pain, up by 10 per cent on the previous year. When the Index began in 2022, less than a quarter of women reported daily pain. And three in ten of UK women said they lived with chronic health problems, up 7 per cent on the year before. Five years ago, less than two in ten reported having chronic health issues. The survey of 76,232 women and girls was carried out in 2024, with the details published for the first time this week. Health experts said women in the UK were increasingly frustrated by the gap between the NHS care they expected and what they received. Anna O’Sullivan, co-founder of women’s health awareness group CensHERship and founder of the FutureFemHealth news platform, said: ‘These figures reflect years of long waiting lists, delayed diagnoses and women’s health being treated as an afterthought. ‘We’ve seen a significant increase in awareness and discussion about women’s health over the last few years - but access to care has not kept up with that… These findings should be a wake-up call that it’s time for long-term, sustainable investment to ensure women can access timely healthcare, trusted information and earlier diagnosis before conditions become more complex and costly to treat.’ Nearly seven out of ten UK women have experienced delays seeking NHS care within the last five years, with two in five feeling ‘frustration’ or ‘anxiety’ over their difficulties using the healthcare system, according to a separate survey of 2,000 UK women carried out last month, also commissioned by women’s health technology company Hologic. Women are frustrated by the gap between the NHS care they expect and what they receive Half of women who reported negative feelings about their healthcare had experienced long waiting times or difficulty getting appointments, while a third experienced delays in diagnosis. And while 38 per cent of women overall said their concerns were not taken seriously by medical professionals, this was more likely in younger women aged 18 to 34 - with 47 per cent saying their concerns were dismissed, compared with 31 per cent of women aged 55 and over. Tim Simpson, a senior manager at Hologic, said the annual index had showed a ‘continual decline’ in women’s healthcare in the UK. ‘Women’s responses [to the survey] clearly illustrate the continuing deterioration across [many] aspects of their health and wellbeing, with many facing delays in care and losing confidence in the system,’ he said.  ‘Women are telling us they want earlier diagnosis and faster access to care. Improving women’s health will take continued commitment from policymakers, the NHS, clinicians and industry working together to deliver the changes women are asking for.’ A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'It is unacceptable that the UK continues to lag behind other countries when it comes to women’s health. 'That’s why this government has published a renewed Women’s Health Strategy to go further in addressing health inequalities and build an NHS that actually listens to women – instead of gaslighting them. 'We’ve already delivered 5.2 million extra NHS appointments in our first year, brought down gynaecology waiting lists, and made the morning-after pill free at pharmacies across England – but we know there’s much more to do and can promise women across the country we won’t stop until each of their voices are not only heard, but served too.' The comments below have been moderated in advance. 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