Cape Town — Gallup, a leading research consultancy known for its opinion polls, has released its "Global States of Mind: New Metrics for World Leaders" report, which seeks to provide leaders at all levels of society with "timely, foward-looking economics on what their citizens are thinking".

It is crucial for a country's leadership to be in touch with the mood of its citizens, according to Gallup CEO Jim Clifton, as highlighted by the events of the Arab Spring.

Here are some high- and lowlights from the report:

In response to questions that sought to gauge citizens' feelings on their confidence in and experiences with crime and law enforcement authorities, a number of African countries featured on the list of countries where citizens feel most insecure.

Gabon and Zimbabwe top the list of countries where citizens are least likely to feel safe at 39%, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and South Africa at 38% and Chad at 30%.

Rwanda tops the list of countries where citizens are most likely to feel safe at 92%, and Niger follows at 84%.

On the ability of citizens to meet their needs for food and shelter, respondents in the Central African Republic struggle most to meet their basic needs at 83%, followed by Togo and Guinea at 74%. Of the top ten countries on this list, nine are on the African continent.

The wellbeing category looks at the combined impact of factors such as health, happiness and productivity,  social networks, personal economics and and citizen engagement.

Malawi is the only African country that features on the list of the top 10 countries with the highest suffering at 28%. No African country features on the list of countries with low levels of suffering.

West African countries feature strongly when it comes to the likelihood of people to move away due to a shortage of local opportunities. Togo tops the list at 34%, followed by Sierra Leone at 33%, Liberia at 31% and Ghana and Gabon at 30% and 28% respectively.