Nigeria has been recognized as one of the most welcoming countries in the world, securing the 7th position globally for friendliness towards strangers.
This was revealed in the 2025 edition of the World Happiness Report, compiled by the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University in partnership with Gallup and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
This global survey evaluated 147 countries using various indicators of well-being, including people’s willingness to engage in prosocial behaviour such as helping strangers, volunteering, and charitable donations.
Despite facing numerous internal challenges, Nigerians demonstrated an impressive level of friendliness and kindness to strangers, earning them a spot in the top ten in this specific category.
However, Nigeria’s overall ranking in the happiness index paints a more sobering picture. The country was placed 105th in terms of overall happiness, a position that reflects widespread dissatisfaction with quality of life, institutional dysfunction, and limited trust in public systems.
A notable insight from the report is the significant gap between Nigerians’ trust in individuals versus institutions. When respondents were asked what they believed would happen if a lost wallet was found, their answers revealed a telling pattern:
Nigeria ranked 33rd when the wallet was expected to be found by a stranger
71st if found by a neighbour
But dropped sharply to 126th if found by the police
This ranking underscores a serious deficit in public trust, especially in law enforcement and government agencies. The report observed that in countries with weak institutional frameworks, acts of kindness between individuals—especially strangers—tend to become more prominent as a substitute for failing systems.
The authors stated, “Where institutional structures are weak, helping strangers likely becomes the most direct and effective form of benevolence.”
Nigeria’s situation mirrors trends found in other countries facing similar systemic challenges. Nations like Jamaica, Liberia, Trinidad, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Zambia also exhibited stronger interpersonal trust than institutional trust, suggesting a broader global pattern among nations with fragile governance and public services.
In addition to kindness to strangers, Nigeria ranked 45th in terms of charitable giving, further reinforcing its citizens’ inclination toward individual acts of goodwill and generosity.