The world is kinder than people think it is. That’s according to the 2025 World Happiness Report. The report was released on March 30. It’s published by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre and several partners. These include a board of experts.
Lara Aknin is one of those experts. Aknin is a psychology professor. She served as an editor on this year’s report. “The science suggests that kindness is more prevalent than we think,” Aknin told TIME for Kids, “and that it matters more than we think.”
Kindness Wins
The World Happiness Report examines data from more than 140 countries. There’s a section on benevolence. That means the tendency tendency inclination to a particular action (noun) to do good or give back. Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands rank highest for overall benevolence (see map). Other countries shine, too. People in Liberia and Venezuela are most likely to help a stranger. Indonesia has the highest rate of volunteerism volunteerism the practice of donating time to causes (noun) .
The researchers also examined another data point. It involves a lost wallet. People were asked: How likely is it that a lost wallet will be returned? The actual return rate is much higher than people expected.
“We underestimate the kindness of our neighbors by roughly 50%,” Aknin says. She adds that this can cause us to “miss the opportunities to form connections with other people.”
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