Strangers are about twice as kind as people think, according to a study that looked at happiness around the world.
This year Happiness report , under the auspices of the UN, measured trust in foreigners by having people intentionally lose their wallets and tracking how many were returned.
They compared this data with the number of returns people expected.
The rate of wallets returned was almost twice as high as people had predicted, and the study, which gathered evidence from around the world, found that believing in the goodness of others is linked to happiness.
The report ranked Finland as the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive time, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The first non-European country, following those listed, is Costa Rica.
Of the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia ranks best (19th), followed by Kosovo (29th), Serbia is in 31st place, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in 56th, Montenegro is in 71st, and Croatia is in the next place, while North Macedonia is in 86th position out of 147 countries. on the list.
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John F. Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia and author of the report, said the data shows that "people are much happier living where they think people care about each other."
The study showed that people "were too pessimistic everywhere," he concludes.
The 13th annual World Happiness Report, released to mark the United Nations International Day of Happiness, ranks the countries in the world with the happiest populations by asking people to rate their lives.
Finland once again took first place with an average score of 7,736 out of 10, while Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time.
Both the UK and America fell to 23rd and 24th place respectively, the lowest position ever for America.
The study, published by the Oxford University Research Centre, asks people to rate their own lives on a scale of 0-10 - zero being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life.
The ranking of countries is based on a three-year average of these results.
The top 10 are: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg and Mexico.
The 2025 Happiness Report also revealed:
- That happiness is declining among the population along with social trust in America and parts of Europe, while political polarization is growing
- That sharing meals with others was linked to well-being around the world
- That the number of family members was linked to happiness.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, said the results reaffirmed that "happiness is found in trust, kindness and social connection."
"It is up to us as individuals and citizens to translate this truth into positive actions and thus foster a path of peace and prosperity in communities around the world," he said.
"In this era of social isolation and political polarization, we need to find ways to reconnect people, for our individual and collective well-being," said Jan Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Oxford Centre for Well-Being Research.
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