"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel Anna Karenina describes his protagonist’s circumstances. Might it also describe countries? Unhappiness has been brought into sharp relief in Europe in recent days and weeks.
France has been gripped by rioting so severe that localized curfews had to be imposed as beleaguered President Emmanuel Macron sought some form of order—a failure of authority that didn’t escape the attention of President Donald Trump. This is a kind of unhappiness specific to France in 2026: the street violence began after police lost control of protests that had begun over teacher shortages but mutated into complex grievances about the cost of living and political polarization, as well as outright criminality such as looting. The protests have also become a flashpoint in debates about French society, including about the effects of immigration and Islam on social cohesion.
Demonstrators have clashed with police in Italy and Belgium, while crowds demanding affordable housing have protested in Spain and Portugal. In Albania, a movement against corruption is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Everyone is unhappy in their own way.
But there might be a deeper pattern where grievances increasingly overlap without identifying the cause or the solution: inflation, housing, public services and an uncertain future for the young. Newsweek has mapped those grievances, and our analysis shows that France is not alone as a country facing underlying pressure. Greece, which has yet to see unrest on the same scale, is level with France in a ranking of 32 European countries.
More surprisingly, as a reference point, the United States would rank third if it were included, despite enjoying far better standards of living overall. The analysis combines youth unemployment, the share of young people neither working nor studying, life satisfaction, inflation, inequality and measures of government effectiveness with political polarization, public distrust and the ability to organize demonstrations. On these measures, Greece and France both score 71.3 out of 100, followed by Albania at 66.4, Spain at 65.8, and the United Kingdom on 65.1.
But unhappiness is also specific. Germany does not rank highly in the analysis, but has been far from immune to protest. The wave of protests sweeping France has provoked sharply contrasting reactions in the American media.
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