Summary: The celebration of hope comes against a backdrop of a world burdened by growing turmoil, widening social divisions, and unrelenting economic and environmental challenges. The United Nations, itself gripped by factors leading to loss of hope, calls for action based on values that unite humanity rather than divide it, chief among them hope, which emerges as a powerful force affecting everyone regardless of their background. It reaffirms that clinging to hope is the compass guiding individuals, societies, and nations toward a better future.

The 'Al-Maany Dictionary' defines hope as the soul's attachment to achieving goals and wishes. It is a feminine proper noun meaning hope, wish, ambition, aspiration, and optimism. It is also an integration that combines subjective feelings and thinking about possible paths.

American psychologist C.R. Snyder defined it as the will to pursue goals and the perceived ability to achieve them. It can activate the brain's reward and motivation centers, which are closely related to alleviating symptoms of depression.

The World Health Organization says that hope, which is a component of mental health, is the ability to cope with stress, work effectively, and contribute constructively to society. Documented scientific research and studies repeatedly prove that higher levels of hope in humans are associated with lower rates of anxiety and stress resulting from trauma—psychological benefits that positively affect physical health.

For example, and according to facts attributed to the World Health Organization, cancer patients with higher levels of hope adhere more strictly to treatment plans and achieve better survival rates. Hope in early life is associated with better long-term health outcomes, and its persistence leads to fewer emergency hospital visits and lower rates of premature death.

As for the diva of Arabic song, Umm Kulthum, she considered her beloved the hope of her life, describing him repeatedly as precious, endless love, considering him, in her words, 'My hope, my life, my eye,' and deeming his smile enough reason to live in her line, 'And it's enough to wake up to your smile telling me to live.' Even when Farid al-Atrash dismissed the value and status of hope, considering love without hope the highest meaning of romance, Angham came to restore its prestige by singing, 'There is no life without hope, and no hope without life.'

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It seems that the winds of loss, diminishment, or retreat of hope that affect the world's inhabitants from time to time prompted the United Nations to designate a World Day of Hope, or as some joke in a world rife with reasons for dwindling hope, a day to commemorate hope.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres says the organization is a child of hope, which stirs some feelings of uncertainty and triggers additional sources of anxiety, as the UN finds itself today in an unprecedented situation threatening its survival and existence. Amid severe financial crises and a decline in its ability to implement its charter—maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, and supporting international law—the organization reminds us that July 12 is the International Day of Hope, and that everyone should strive to define hope, seek its sources, and revive its value, status, and existence.

On the International Day of Hope, hope exists in places and conditions that are not on anyone's mind. They are the regions furthest from hope and the societies closest to losing hope.

The surprise is that people in developing and poor countries are the most hopeful for a better tomorrow, the most optimistic about the future, and the economic prospects that the near future holds for their children, compared to people in the advanced, wealthy first world. Several scientific studies agree that people in poor and developing countries generally tend to cling to the hope of a better tomorrow.

Demographic disparities in hope

A study titled 'Where Hope Thrives: Demographic Variation in Hope Across 22 Countries,' published in the Journal of Happiness Studies (December 2025), indicates that psychological processes like hope are not merely individual traits but are rooted in the surrounding contexts, values, and spatial conditions of country, society, geography, history, and others, and are shaped by their various influences.

The study stated that among the largest demographic factors studied, the biggest differences emerged regarding attendance and practice of religious rituals, as those who practice these rituals more than once a week showed much higher levels of hope than others, both within the same country and across countries.

Despite that, hope on its International Day remains at a crossroads in terms of definition and specification, as multiple definitions overlap, and intertwined geographical, cultural, social, and of course economic and political contexts.

The United Nations recognizes that the celebration of hope today comes against a backdrop of a world burdened by growing turmoil, widening social divisions, and unrelenting economic and environmental challenges. The UN, itself gripped by factors leading to loss of hope, calls for action based on values that unite humanity rather than divide it, chief among them hope, which emerges as a powerful force affecting everyone regardless of their background. It reaffirms that clinging to hope is the compass guiding individuals, societies, and nations toward a better future.

Psychological processes like hope are not merely individual traits but are rooted in contexts, values, and spatial conditions (Reuters)​​​​​​​

Individuals, societies, and countries in the Arab region on the International Day of Hope do not live without hope, but it is likely that many live on its edge, or very close to the edge. But what is striking is that broad segments are immersed in hope, but with the help of faith and narratives of resilience and adaptation.

At the end of last year, 2025, Gallup (the analytics and advisory company based in Washington) conducted what it called 'the longest ongoing global public opinion study' titled 'A Divided World Looks to 2026: Optimism in the South, Anxiety in the West and Among Older Generations.'

And although the world, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Sweden's Uppsala University, is mired in at least 65 conflicts, including 18 major and minor wars each causing at least 1,000 deaths per year from fighting, plus eight direct international conflicts between countries—a record number of simultaneous wars, not to mention that the proportion of conflicts sweeping the world is the highest since the end of World War II—hope somehow envelops the horizon. And the biggest surprise is that it does not disappear from the Arab horizon, despite the large number of chronic and emerging conflicts, the frequency of wars in several countries, and the persistence of bickering and tensions that renew and spread.

In the Gallup study, conducted in 60 countries, 37 percent of respondents said the current year 2026 will be better than 2025. 25 percent said it will be worse. And 31 percent expected no major change, on the basis that 'no news or changes is good news in itself.'

Hope has not completely disappeared