One of the more unusual results from the World Happiness Report 2025 is that our belief in the kindness of others is closely aligned with our own happiness.
Researchers dropped wallets in the street in sight of others, and measured how often the wallets were returned. They then surveyed the expectations of others as to how often they thought the wallets would be returned. People were twice as pessimistic about the return rate than in reality.
“Believing that others are willing to return your lost wallet is also shown to be a strong predictor of population happiness: Nordic nations once again top the ranking of the world’s happiest countries, but they also rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets.”
Not the happiest nation
In the UK, we didn’t fare very well in our happiness rating, ending up ranking 23rd worldwide, just one notch above the USA, and well below Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th).
I’d be tempted that our ‘meh’ ranking could be down to the miserably wet winter we’ve just had, but the figures are taken across a three-year average. The varied factors taken into account in the data include:
- GDP per capita
- Healthy life expectancy
- Having someone to count on
- A sense of freedom
- Generosity
Hints for happiness in retirement
For its 13th annual edition, the World Happiness Report’s focus was on “caring and sharing”, and it once again highlighted the importance of social interaction for happiness. The report offers simple ideas on how we can live more happily through leading a more social lifestyle, something that single retirees can struggle with. Here are my top three.
1. Sharing meals with others
Eating food in the company of others is “strongly linked with wellbeing across all global regions” according to the report.
“Those who share more meals with others report significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect, and lower levels of negative affect. This is true across ages, genders, countries, cultures, and regions.”
However, according to a YouGov survey, whilst 79% of those in Great Britain live with other people, a fifth of them eat at different times to those they live with. Of those who do eat together:
- Only 45% eat at a dining table
- 39% eat sitting on the living room furniture such as a sofa.
Even if eating together, they’re not necessarily interacting:
- 67% say they “watch something while eating their main evening meal”
I suspect that the link with wellbeing may be as much to do with interacting as eating. As the Happiness Report states:
“Countries where people share relatively more meals tend to display higher levels of social support and positive reciprocity, and lower levels of loneliness.”
So if you are retired, that’s the perfect reason to join a social club or group where a sit-down meal is involved on a regular basis.
2. Random acts of kindness
Where our social media team are based, there is a movement of ‘random acts of kindness’ which has brightened their local Facebook community page no end! From anonymous pot plants left on doorsteps to knitted toys for kids hung on trees, and boxes of tennis balls for dogs, they pop up in the most unusual places.
However, these ‘random acts gifters’ might be missing a trick as, the report suggests:
“The wellbeing benefits of benevolent acts depend on why and how people engage in them. Both helpers and recipients experience greater happiness from caring and sharing when they do so in the context of caring connections, choice, and clear positive impact.”
There can be no recipient connection to an anonymous gift; a tangible link is required.
Since the pandemic, someone has been dressing up the four wooden carved sheep at one of our social media team’s local roundabouts. The sheep wear outfits commemorating major events, from Wimbledon to St Patrick’s Day and Easter. People can donate to the “sheep ladies” local charities to just say “thanks for the sheep smile”.
The sheep are a visible display of kindness and community spirit without any expectations. It’s something people can choose to support (or not) and see the benefits of too. There is a tangible link. It may not have the individual impact of a doorstep flowerpot, but it gives a lot of people a cheery boost every morning. (Find out more at For Sheep’s Sake)
3. Living with others
According to the happiness report, a household of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness. However, in retirement, it’s often just the two of you, or even just yourself. So it’s important to keep up the social interaction to the extent that you don’t feel lonely, especially if you have retired from a highly sociable environment with social connections out of working hours, such as teaching.
Planning for retirement happiness
Planning your retirement can seem daunting, but I’m here to help. Contact me for your initial Discovery meeting to discuss what I offer for those approaching retirement, this year, next year or even five years ahead.
