UN International Day of Happiness
Today is United Nations International Happiness Day. The World Happiness Report 2025 published today includes a ranking of the world’s happiest countries. To determine these rankings, more than 100,000 people each year from all around the world respond to the first question below. You might wish to answer this question for yourself today along with the second question that takes this a step further:
Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.
The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you.
On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? (This is ‘ladder-present’.)
On which step do you think you will stand about five years from now? (This is ‘ladder-future’.)
Are you thriving, struggling, or suffering?
These wellbeing questions were developed by pioneering social researcher Dr. Hadley Cantril and are known as ‘the Cantril Scale’. They are used in Gallup research globally, including Gallup’s World Poll of more than 150 countries, representing more than 98% of the world’s population. As explained by Gallup:
One distinct value of the Cantril Scale is the fact that a respondent can self-anchor based on their perspective. While every respondent will have a unique perspective, the patterns in the data suggest the scale can be meaningfully grouped into at least three distinct categories.
Thriving - wellbeing that is strong, consistent and progressing. These respondents have positive views of their present life situation (7+) and have positive views of the next five years (8+). They report significantly fewer health problems, fewer sick days, less worry, stress, sadness or anger, and more happiness, enjoyment, interest and respect.
Struggling - wellbeing that is moderate or inconsistent. These respondents have moderate views of their present life situation (5 or 6) OR moderate OR negative views of their future. They are either struggling in the present or expect to struggle in the future. They report more daily stress and worry about money than the ‘thriving’ respondents, and more than double the number of sick days. They are more likely to smoke and are less likely to eat healthy food.
Suffering - wellbeing that is at high risk. These respondents have poor ratings of their current life situation (4 and below) AND negative views of the next five years (4 and below). They are more likely to report lacking the basics of food and shelter, and more likely to have physical pain, stress, worry, sadness and anger. They have less access to health insurance and care, and more than double the disease burden, in comparison to ‘thriving’ respondents.
The Cantril Scale is an example of one type of wellbeing assessment. Measurement of wellbeing is multifaceted, including a continuum from judgments of life (life evaluation) to feelings (daily affect). Different measures of wellbeing provide different perspectives on the process by which respondents reflect on or experience their lives. The Cantril Scale measures wellbeing closer to the end of the continuum, representing judgments of life or life evaluation. There is a substantial correlation between the Cantril Scale and income. This contrasts with measures of feelings or affect, which appear to be more closely correlated with variables such as social time.
The World Happiness Report 2025 – Caring and Sharing
The origins of the World Happiness Report, now in its 13th year, can be traced to a historic event focused on wellbeing and happiness on 2 April 2012, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. This high-level meeting hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan brought together more than 800 distinguished participants: the President of Costa Rica, government ministers and diplomats from around the world, the United Nations Secretary-General, the Presidents of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council, the UNDP administrator, and leading economists and scholars including Nobel laureates, media, civil society, business and spiritual leaders.
The Prime Minister of Bhutan described how: “On that day at the UN, a global movement was launched to create a new economic paradigm – one that has as its goal human happiness and the wellbeing of all life on earth; that recognises as key conditions for the new economy ecological sustainability, fair distribution, and the efficient use of resources; and that requires a healthy balance among thriving natural, human, social, cultural and built assets”.
2 April 2012, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Left to right - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, the President of Costa Rica and Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (2009 to 2017) chairing this meeting.
The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.
Country rankings are based on a three-year average of each population’s assessment of their quality of life.
In the 2025 Report Finland leads the world in happiness for the eighth year in a row, with Finns reporting an average score of 7.736 (out of 10) when asked to evaluate their lives.
Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) both enter the top 10 for the first time, while continued upward trends for countries such as Lithuania (16th), Slovenia (19th) and Czechia (20th) underline the convergence of happiness levels between Eastern, Central and Western Europe.
New Zealand is 12th, unhappily lagging Australia at 11th. The United States (24th) falls to its lowest-ever position, with the United Kingdom (23rd) reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.
Interdisciplinary experts from economics, psychology, sociology and beyond seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption. These factors help to explain the differences across nations.
This year’s World Happiness Report begins with the following:
In this year’s issue, we focus on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness. Like ‘mercy’ in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, caring is ‘twice-blessed’ – it blesses those who give and those who receive. In this report, we investigate both of these effects: the benefits to the recipients of caring behaviour and the benefits to those who care for others.
There is a wealth of evidence about the extent of caring behaviour around the world. In the Gallup World Poll, people are asked if, in the last month, they gave money to charity, if they volunteered, and if they helped a stranger. They were also asked, in 2019, if they think other people would help them by returning their lost wallet.
Some key findings jump out of the data.
First, people are much too pessimistic about the benevolence of others. For example, when wallets were dropped in the street by researchers, the proportion of returned wallets was far higher than people expected. This is hugely encouraging.
Second, our wellbeing depends on our perception of others’ benevolence, as well as their actual benevolence. Since we underestimate the kindness of others, our wellbeing can be improved by receiving information about their true benevolence.
Third, when society is more benevolent, the people who benefit most are those who are least happy. As a result, happiness is more equally distributed in countries with higher levels of expected benevolence.
Finally, benevolence increased during COVID-19 in every region of the world. People needed more help and others responded. This ‘benevolence bump’ has been sustained since then. Despite a fall from 2023 to 2024, benevolent acts are still about 10% above their pre-pandemic levels.
Benevolence also brings benefits to those doing the caring and sharing. This works best if the motivation is to help others (rather than to feel good yourself), if the act is voluntary, and if it has an obvious positive impact on the beneficiary. All this is shown, where the usual country rankings of happiness are supplemented by rankings for benevolent acts and expected wallet return.
A local example of caring and sharing
In my earlier blog titled Supporting the Transformative Power of the World Choir Games, I discussed the unique opportunity to support the acclaimed filmmaker Leanne Pooley, and her venture to create a television series that captures the spirit and essence of the World Choir Games. I explained how:
Leanne’s vision for the series extends beyond the musical scores and performances of the choirs. It aims to explore the personal journeys of the participants, highlighting their challenges, triumphs, and the joy of performing on such a prestigious platform. The series will follow two distinct choirs: the Kaitāia Voices Choir from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, USA.
Despite their geographical and cultural differences, these choirs are united by their passion for music and its life-changing power. The series will provide an intimate glimpse into their preparations, performances and personal stories, allowing viewers to experience the profound emotional and cultural connections that music can forge.
I also discussed ‘Enhancing Wellbeing Through Altruism’ and how the act of giving not only benefits the recipients but significantly enhances the subjective wellbeing of the givers, often described as the ‘warm glow’ of helping others. This phenomenon encompasses a range of positive psychological effects, from increased life satisfaction to a decrease in negative emotions, substantiated by robust scientific evidence.
World Happiness Day seems like an opportune time to share this just-released Choir Games Trailer. I was fortunate to be one of the first people to view the first two episodes and to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the production. My subsequent email to Leanne included:
It was awe-inspiring to watch the powerful stories unfolding. I was totally absorbed. Through watching the episodes and attending Choir Games live events with both these groups and others, my appreciation of choirs grew, as did my respect and admiration seeing the vision and effort required.
Join a live launch event
Via Zoom - 8 am NZ time, 21 March/7 pm UK time for a special live Zoom event.
The UK charity Action for Happiness is hosting a special event in celebration of International Day of Happiness. This virtual event will feature World Happiness Report editor Lara B. Aknin, in conversation with Dr Radha Modgil and Mark Williamson.
If you are reading this after the event, check out the Action for Happiness website for insights from the event and a wealth of resources including daily actions and groups.
New Zealand has an online group that meets monthly offering the opportunity to meet “with like-minded people to learn about the 10 Keys to Happier Living - evidence-based ways to create a happier and more meaningful life - and how to put them into action”.
The London zoom event is previewed as follows:
How can we create a happier world together?
Lasting happiness comes from caring for each other, feeling connected and being part of something bigger.
Join us for a special event to celebrate International Day of Happiness (20 March) with this year’s theme of Caring and Sharing.
· Prof Lara Aknin will launch the new World Happiness Report 2025 and share the most important new insights from this year’s report.
· Dr Radha Modgil will explore how we can apply this to our lives, including ways to help ourselves and each other, even in tough times.
· Dr Mark Williamson will host the event and help us all take away practical actions to feel happier and more connected to others.
Other launch events can be found at this link.
The London event preview page includes the following quote:
Guidance for wealth AND wellbeing
Wherever you rate yourself on the wellbeing ladder, Money Matters can support you with resources providing guidance for wealth AND wellbeing. For example, you might want to take a more in-depth self-assessment with the free Wheel of Life® Self-Assessment Tool on the Money Matters Resource Page at this link and share the results with me as part of a life-planning process. The LifeWheelDNA is a free tool that assesses an individual’s Wheel of Life® across eight topics over 32 specific questions and creates a personalised 24-page report. The Wheel of Life® Assessment is based on the concept of evaluating key areas of your life, inspired by pioneers like Paul J. Meyer. Also known as The Life Wheel or The Life Balance Wheel, it assesses dimensions such as finances, health and well-being, relationships, fun and joy, career and work, and more.
Another resource is Professor Chellie Spiller’s books ‘The Catalyst Way’ discussed in my blog here and ‘Wayfinding Leadership’ discussed in my blog here. Several of my other blogs also discuss these deeper dimensions of wellbeing, such as ‘Introducing the Inner Development Goals’. That blog offers to send a Money Matters Life Planning Guide if you would like to consider the IDGs in detail and how you might apply them personally. The processes described in this life-planning guide can be very beneficial not only for developing ethical leaders within the businesses you invest in but also for applying yourself to further enrich your life and your capacity as an ethical investment leader. Last but not least is the guidance to also look on the light side of life, as discussed in my blog: ‘Time for a Humour Audit? Good Humour Creates Wealth and Wellbeing’.