“The world experienced a ‘benevolence bump’ of kindness during the Covid-19 pandemic that has remained, with generous acts more than 10% above pre-pandemic levels.

The annual World Happiness Report found that in 2024, acts such as donating and volunteering were more frequent than in 2017–19 in all generations and almost all global regions, although they had fallen from 2023.

Helping strangers was still up by an average of 18% from the pre-pandemic era.

Prof Lara Aknin, a Canadian professor of social psychology and one of the report’s editors, said the number of people who reported helping strangers sharply increased in 2020 and the numbers had been sustained.”

From The Guardian.