A sharp increase in acts of kindness during two years of Covid. And Finland is first (again). It’s the latest World Happiness Report

Something of a challenge to consider this year’s World Happiness Report and its tenth anniversary, it must be admitted, at the moment…

But it’s at the core of our approach at the Alternative Global that we apply new measures of societal progress than strictly economic ones (like GDP, raised everytime there’s an accident…or a war). Reported levels of happiness in countries is usually a good starting point towards exploring what they’re getting right, in terms of policy, culture and economy. See our new theme, titled “New Energy Sources”.

There is some familiar and delighting news in this year’s report, as the Optimist Daily reports below:

Acts of kindness increase

As the largest public study on kindness also concluded, acts of kindness around the world markedly increased during harrowing times.

“We found during 2021 remarkable worldwide growth in all three acts of kindness monitored in the Gallup World Poll. Helping strangers, volunteering, and donations in 2021 were strongly up in every part of the world, reaching levels almost 25% above their pre-pandemic prevalence,” explained Professor John Helliwell from the University of British Columbia.

“This surge of benevolence, which was especially great for the helping of strangers, provides powerful evidence that people respond to help others in need, creating in the process more happiness for the beneficiaries, good examples for others to follow, and better lives for themselves.”

Finland takes the gold

Finland took first place for a fifth year in a row as the happiest country in the world. The rest of the top ten in descending order are: Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand. This year, the top three countries for the largest increase in happiness were Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Although it’s important to dwell on the positive side of this report, it’s also vital to use it as a stark reminder of which populations are still experiencing hardship. The biggest losses of overall happiness were Lebanon, Venezuela, and Afghanistan, showing the effect that war and governmental crises have on the quality of life and happiness.

“The World Happiness Report is changing the conversation about progress and wellbeing. It provides important snapshots of how people around the world feel about the overall quality of their lives,” says Christopher Barrington-Leigh, who was involved in the study.

Using these data can help the nations of the world craft policies to increase wellbeing standards for its populations and also help understand which are the most in need of aid and support.

More here. The Happiness Report papers are very authoritative and well researched — you can find them here.