THE PHILIPPINES slipped to 57th place out of 147 countries in the latest World Happiness Report (WHR), despite showing an improvement in its overall happiness score.
In the latest WHR released on Thursday, the Philippines’ level of happiness rose to 6.107 out of 10 in 2025 from 6.048 previously.
The level of happiness is based on the self-assessed life evaluations averaged for the 2022-2024 period.
Last year’s report showed the Philippines ranked 53rd out of 143 countries, marking its highest placement in four years.
The Philippines is the fourth happiest in the Southeast Asian region, behind Singapore (ranked 34th with a score of 6.565), Vietnam (ranked 46th with a score of 6.352), and Thailand (ranked 49th with a score of 6.222).
The report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Nordic nations continued to be the happiest in the world, led by Finland for the eighth consecutive year, which scored 7.736 out of 10. Denmark ranked second, followed by Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg and Mexico.
The US fell to its lowest-ever ranking of 24th.
At the bottom is Afghanistan, which was once again the unhappiest country in the world. Also at the bottom were Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
Experts analyzed data across six key factors: gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
“We previously found a global surge in benevolent acts during 2020, led by the helping of strangers, which continued through subsequent years. Last year, we found these acts to be prevalent in all generations, especially among Millennials and Gen Z. We suggested that this upsurge of benevolent acts might have led people to feel better about themselves and their neighbors,” the report said.
The WHR noted that acts of kindness remain 10% more frequent across all generations and in nearly all global regions compared with 2017–2019, even as trends gradually return to pre-pandemic levels.
“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,” the report said.
“Believing that others are willing to return your lost wallet is also shown to be a strong predictor of population happiness,” it added.
Over the past 15 years, inequality in happiness within countries has been increasing, while inequality in happiness between countries has remained relatively stable.
Despite this, WHR noted prosocial behavior, or altruism, declined in the Philippines. The decrease was largely associated with a decrease in donating money.
“The average change is -0.23 percentage points per year… the decrease was prevalently associated with a decrease in donating money,” it added.
“However, this increase masks two contrasting trends: on the one hand, an increase in the share of people helping others (0.56); on the other hand, a decrease in volunteering (-0.15).”
In terms of regional patterns of social connection, the WHR noted data from the Government Finance Statistics showed that while most young adults report having at least one social connection, a significant number are socially isolated.
Across 22 countries and regions, 17% of young adults report having no close relationships, including family and friends.
Japan stands out with over 30% of its young adult population experiencing social isolation. In contrast, countries like Nigeria, Egypt, and the Philippines report significantly lower rates, with less than 10% of young adults lacking close connections.
Other key findings were that 19% of young adults in 2023 across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support.
In addition, the study showed significant differences in meal-sharing rates exist worldwide, with meal-sharing having a profound impact on subjective well-being, comparable to the effects of income and unemployment.
Moreover, social connections are essential for the well-being of young adults, offering a protective buffer against the harmful effects of stress.
Deaths of despair are less common in countries where acts of kindness are more frequent.
In the US and parts of Europe, declining happiness and social trust have contributed to increasing political polarization and a rise in anti-system votes.
Sought for comment, Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice-President Julius H. Cainglet said the dip in altruistic behavior among Filipinos may be attributed to low wages.
“Workers, even if they are willing to give simply cannot give since they have nothing owing to the meager increase in wages over the past two years given by regional wage boards that have not been enough to cover the lost value of wages,” he said in a Viber chat.
The inability to meet their families’ basic needs has caused significant stress and anxiety among workers, he added.
“Having extra money would have helped by enabling workers and their families to engage in more social and recreational activities. Thus, increasing wages to living wage levels would greatly contribute to regaining the Country’s spot atop the prosocial behavior ratings and the happiness index,” he added. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
