The 2025 World Happiness Report Is Out! Here Are Some Lessons It Teaches On Leadership
Have you received your copy of the 2025 Gallup World Happiness Report? If not, don’t worry. You’re likely not alone.
Here at KNG Services, we signed up months in advance to be emailed the moment it was released. With her HR background, Kristin has long turned to its insights into worker happiness and workplace improvement. Graceann, living in Costa Rica for almost 10 years, always found it fascinating that she lived in a country constantly showing up on the list.
When it finally arrived in our email on March 27, we couldn't wait to share what we found. While we continue trudging through all 260 pages of it, we thought we would start with our impressions of the nine-page executive summary.
Happiness by the numbers: Key findings
Launched in 2012 and published annually by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the Gallup World Happiness Report uses data from its Gallup World Poll to rank countries by well-being. It analyzes factors like social support, income, freedom, trust, and life expectancy to assess global happiness, highlight trends in mental health, inequality, and prosocial behavior, and guide policy to improve worldwide quality of life.
In this year’s issue, researchers focused on how caring and sharing impacts people’s happiness. The executive summary starts by flagging one of its key takeaways: We’re more pessimistic about others’ benevolence than deserved.
The other notable points they highlight come directly from the individual chapters, which they go on to break down in further detail. The report covers areas like sharing meals and family, but since our focus was workplace happiness, we started by digging deeper into these three chapters:
Chapter 2: “Caring and sharing: global analysis of happiness and kindness,”
Chapter 5: “Connecting with others: how social connections improve the happiness of young adults,” &;
Chapter 6: “Supporting others: how prosocial behavior reduces deaths of despair."
This is the story we read:
Chapter 2:
Benevolence increased during COVID-19 worldwide and has been sustained since. But people underestimate that reality. This threatens well-being, which depends on others’ benevolence — both our perceptions and their actual acts of sharing and caring.
In places where people expect higher levels of kindness, happiness is more equally distributed. This means that if we listen to others and receive their true information instead of making assumptions, we can improve our own well-being. If we act in the context of genuine caring connections, choice, and clear positive impact, then both expected and actual kindness can reduce wellbeing inequality.
Chapter 5:
In 2023, 19% of young adults reported having no one to count on for social support, up 39% from 2006. But prosocial behavior and kindness are strong predictors of national happiness.
When young adults underestimate their peers’ empathy, they might avoid connection and miss opportunities for meaningful relationships that could otherwise reduce the likelihood of developing depressive symptoms. Researchers designed interventions to bridge that “empathy perception gap,” and participating undergraduate students came to see others as more empathic and became more likely to make new connections and build larger social networks.
Chapter 6:
This report found a significant drop in worldwide deaths of despair, those caused by suicides or alcohol and drug abuse, where more people reported donating, volunteering or helping strangers. The United States, however, is one of the few countries where deaths of despair are still high and rising.
A 10 percentage-point increase in people engaging in prosocial behavior is associated with approximately 1 fewer death per year per 100,000 (Ch 6).
These are the lessons we see for the workplace
People feel happier, more motivated, and more loyal when they believe their leaders care.
Perception of care depends on authentic, visible action backed by consistent communication.
Communicate values, build trust, and ensure employees feel their purpose.
Consistent executive messaging across digital media can help reinforce your perceived commitment to employee care.
When leaders communicate their values clearly and consistently, others have an easier time aligning that messaging with what matters to them. As a result, they have happier, more productive employees.
Do you dream of turning your leadership insights into greater workplace happiness? At KNG Services, we help leaders communicate with clarity, empathy, and strategy. Let’s start building your leadership legacy today.
