"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.
France is hardly alone. 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 Familiar Story
The wave of protests sweeping France has provoked sharply contrasting reactions in the American media.
On the left, the emphasis has been on economic inequality and neglected public services. Vox argues that the unrest reflects something much deeper than dissatisfaction with schools. The progressive New Republic has attacked Trump's attempts to attribute the protests to mass immigration and Islam, saying that these claims bear little relationship to the movement's original demands.
On the right, by contrast, the unrest has become a cautionary tale about mass immigration, radical-left politics and the breakdown of public order. House Speaker Mike Johnson described the riots as a "chilling warning" to Americans about the consequences of left-wing policies. Conservative commentators have also accused the mainstream media of romanticizing student demonstrations while overlooking the influence of extremist groups. National Review argues that the violence had been developing for weeks and that the protests had increasingly been commandeered by radical activists pursuing causes unrelated to education.
For progressives, therefore, France illustrates the dangers of inequality, austerity and political neglect. For conservatives, it demonstrates the consequences of weak government, failed integration and ideological extremism.
...
What’s Really Going On
French malaise
France's high ranking in Newsweek’s analysis is not difficult to explain. Its youth unemployment rate is 18.9 percent, while 12.6 percent of people aged 15 to 24 are neither in education nor employed. More than half of respondents in a World Risk Poll—55 percent—said their government does not care about them at all. France also ranks near the bottom of the group for political stability and under-25 life satisfaction. The latest unrest began with demands for more teachers, but found a much larger audience among people concerned about household bills and the quality of public services.
In a televised address on October 18, Macron said that the country felt "anger and shame" and blamed the violence on "insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals." He said prefects and mayors would get powers to ban gatherings, while acknowledging that hundreds of thousands had demonstrated over legitimate concerns.
Fareen Parvez, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts, previously told Newsweek that the protests were principally about educational conditions, class inequality, racism and police violence, and that attempts to frame them around other factors, such as Islam, were a distraction from the demands.
Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, an anthropologist at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), offered a contrasting view, saying that the protests reflected an “Islamo-leftist alliance,” with poorly defined demands and elements of provocation.
Warning signs for Greece
Greece has yet to experience unrest on the same scale in the current wave, but its warning signs are even clearer. Youth unemployment is 21.4 percent, life satisfaction among under-25s is the lowest of the 32 countries, and seven in 10 respondents say their government does not care about them. Today, October 21, teachers plan protests in Athens and other cities over pay and staffing. Their union says thousands of teaching positions remain unfilled. It offers an immediate test of whether frustration can turn into a broader mobilization.
Unhappiness elsewhere
Spain provides a more visible link between economic pressure and political consequences. Nearly a quarter of its young labor force was unemployed in 2025, the second-highest rate in the study. The encampment at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, prompted by the plight and subsequent death of an elderly renter facing a sharp rent increase, has made the housing crisis impossible to ignore, while teachers are also striking over pay and class sizes. An emergency election has been called for November 29.
In Italy, where youth unemployment stands at 20.5 percent, the grievances encompass wages, schools, energy prices and public services. Recent clashes in Milan led to 271 arrests, according to police, and the government has announced additional troops for the city. Belgium has seen clashes around student protests; Portugal, where youth unemployment exceeds 20 percent, has had both mass union marches and housing encampments. The same pressures have produced different kinds of street politics.
Albania, third on the index, illustrates another route to unrest. It has the highest youth unemployment in the comparison, 25.6 percent, and the highest share of young people outside work or education, 21 percent. Anti-corruption protests that began over a coastal development linked to Jared Kushner, which unlike France Trump has neglected to mention, have drawn students into demands for Rama's departure.
What about America?
America should be happy. At 9.3 percent, U.S. youth unemployment is far below the rates in France, Greece or Spain. But the U.S. has high income inequality, a weaker political-stability measure and a larger decline in life satisfaction among under-25s since the late 2000s. Fifty-eight percent say their government does not care about them. Added to the European ranking, it would place third. America has its own protest cycle, including the No Kings rallies, and its own grievances and polarization.
Among European countries outside those experiencing the most serious recent protests, the United Kingdom ranks fifth overall, with a relatively high 14.3 percent of young people neither in work nor education. Romania, where 80 percent of those surveyed say the government does not care about them (the highest share in the analysis), is sixth. Germany, by contrast, is 22nd, helped by youth unemployment of just 6.9 percent. Something else drives German unrest, perhaps German historical memory and fears about the country’s social contract.
That shows the limits of this kind of analysis. People can be doing better than comparable people in other countries, and yet still feel their lives are becoming worse. Equally, countries are too complex to reduce to a handful of socioeconomic indicators. They are unhappy in their own way: identifying one single cause, as political tribes tend to do, obscures more than it reveals.
All six European countries experiencing sustained protests are in the top 13 of Newsweek's ranking. But the ranking is not a timetable for revolution. Greece's teachers are due on the streets this week. Austria faces a university funding decision by the end of the month. German student organizers are planning another school strike in November. Any of those events could pass without incident. The question is not whether Europe has suddenly run out of reasons to protest. It is which grievance, in which country, will next bring enough people onto the streets to make a difference, and whether that country is able to remain in control.
Methodology
Newsweek’s protest pressure index ranks 32 European countries (the EU 27 plus the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Albania) on how closely they resemble the countries already protesting. The U.S, was scored separately on the same measures for comparison.
The score has five pillars. The structural pillar is 60 percent of the total and combines 10 indicators:
- youth unemployment, ages 15 to 24, 2025
- under-25 life satisfaction, 2023 to 2025
- youth NEET rate, 2024
- government effectiveness, 2025
- political stability, 2025
- income inequality after taxes and transfers
- the decline in under-25 life satisfaction since 2006 to 2010
- cumulative consumer price rise since 2019
- 2025 inflation
- one-year change in youth unemployment
The other four pillars are:
- polarization
- the share of people who say the government cares about them "not at all"
- civic capacity, which averages independent political associations, trade union participation and the civil society environment
- freedom of peaceful assembly
Each indicator is converted to a percentile within the 32 countries, so 100 is the highest-pressure country and 0 the lowest. Most inputs are annual figures from 2024 and 2025 and predate the 2026 energy shock.
Data sources
- Youth unemployment, ages 15 to 24 (ILO modeled): World Bank
- Youth NEET rate: World Bank
- Consumer prices and inflation: World Bank World Development Indicators
- Government effectiveness and political stability: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators
- Under-25 life satisfaction: World Happiness Report 2026 / Gallup, statistical appendix
- Income inequality (Gini): Standardized World Income Inequality Database
- Polarization, civic capacity and freedom of assembly: V-Dem v16
- Polarization, 2025 values: Nations Inquiry extract of V-Dem
- Government cares "not at all": Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll 2025
- Historical unrest test: IMF Reported Social Unrest Index
- Youth unemployment, latest months: Eurostat
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.