Bangladeshis keep growing unhappier, study finds

Bangladeshis' smiles keep fading as the country records its lowest ranking, placing 134th out of 147 countries in the World Happiness Report 2025, marking a decline from its 129th position out of 143 nations last year. 

Bangladeshis are happier than only 13 of the ranked countries, with an average life evaluation score of 3.851 out of 10.

The 13th annual World Happiness Report, released to mark the UN's International Day of Happiness on 20 March, ranks the world's happiest countries by asking people to rate their own lives on a scale of 0-10 with zero being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life.

The rankings are determined through using average life evaluations over the past three years (2022-2024).

The report was developed through a partnership between Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an editorial board.

Finland ranked as the happiest country in the world for the eighth time in a row. It was followed by two more Nordic nations – Denmark and Iceland.

Among South Asian nations, Nepalese are the happiest as they placed at 92nd. They are followed by Pakistanis (109th) Indians (118th) and Sri Lankans (133rd).

Bangladeshis are happier than Afghans in the region, who are the unhappiest people both globally and in South Asia, ranking 147th.

Bangladeshis among best in helping a stranger globally

The happiness report also ranked countries in six measures of benevolence with the first three being national average frequencies of people who report engaging once or more in three benevolent acts during the past month such donating, volunteering, and helping a stranger.

Bangladeshis are more helpful towards strangers, ranking 11th out of 147 countries, compared to the world's happiest people, such as Finns, Danes, Icelanders, Swedes, and Dutch.

However, Bangladesh ranked 80th in donating and 111th in volunteering.

The last three indicators differ from the first, focusing on expectations of others' benevolence. It was based on asking people how likely a lost wallet or valuable would be returned by a neighbour, a stranger or a police officer.

The report shows that Bangladeshis trust a stranger more than the police or their neighbours to return their wallet.

People are much kinder than we expect

Global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality. Actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.

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.

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, said "Happiness isn't just about wealth or growth — it's about trust, connection and knowing people have your back. This year's report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other."

"The wallet data are so convincing because they confirm that people are much happier living where they think people care about each other. The wallet dropping experiments confirm the reality of these perceptions, even if they are everywhere too pessimistic." said John F Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia, a founding editor of the World Happiness Report.