The UN publishes the World Happiness Report annually on March 20th, the International Day of Happiness.
Felix Cheung, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Canada Research Chair in Population Well-Being, is a co-author on the 2025 report. He recently spoke to the CBC, CNN, Global TV, and The Globe and Mail's "Happy Enough" podcast about its findings.
The report found that believing in the kindness of others is more closely tied to happiness than previously thought. The findings, Cheung explains, give us reasons for hope.
“We found that people are a lot kinder than we give them credit for,” says Cheung. “Having trust in your neighbour — and your neighbour proving to be trustworthy — is important for well-being.”
Closer to home, the report underlined some concerning trends in Canadians’ overall well-being. In this year’s ranking of the world’s happiest countries, Canada slipped to 18th place from the 15th spot last year. At its peak in 2015, Canada placed fifth.
"When one person is unhappy, that's an individual issue," says Cheung. "But when a country is unhappy, this is a structural issue, and a structural issue requires a structural problem."
He tells the CBC that while overall happiness has dropped in Canada, it is concentrated within certain groups, including members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, people struggling with mental health issues, people with low income, and Indigenous people. More generally, Canadians’ assessment of their quality of life has steadily declined over the last decade – a trend driven by those under the age of 30.
"They feel that working hard doesn't necessarily allow them to move up that social ladder. And that is something we need to pay attention to,” says Cheung.
He suggests that investing in youth mental health could be Canada’s “best bet” to improve its standing.
The report is a collaboration between the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, with Gallup data and analyses by leading well-being researchers.
At the University of Toronto, Cheung leads the Population Well-Being Lab, which has been publishing the Canadian Happiness Report since 2022. Their work tracks how Canadians’ well-being is changing over time and across provinces, identifying at-risk groups experiencing low well-being, and examining how Canadian youth are faring. The reports have highlighted a growing concern about declining standards of living in Canada – including inflation, home prices, overburdened health services, and a mental health crisis particularly affecting young people.