TRIESTE, USA – illycaffè and Fondazione Ernesto Illy reaffirm their support for the World Happiness Report, the annual study that has been measuring global happiness and well-being since 2012. Coffee is considered the drink of happiness – it nourishes the soul, benefits the body, and strengthens human connections.
The World Happiness Report 2025 explores the link between kindness and happiness, revealing that people tend to be much kinder than we expect, with notable variations across age groups and regions. As highlighted by the report’s authors – John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, and Shun Wang – social connections, kindness, and trust significantly contribute to greater happiness.
Coffee embodies altruism: it carries the generosity of a shared moment, the ritual of offering, and the joy of drinking together. Beyond its beneficial properties, coffee fosters development in the communities that produce it, creating a virtuous cycle in which well-being extends from the cup to coffee-growing regions, generating lasting economic and social growth.
Protecting well-being – understood as happiness, personal development, and health – through initiatives that support both coffee-producing and coffee-consuming communities has always been a core mission of illycaffè and the Fondazione Ernesto Illy. For years, they have been committed to projects that enhance social and economic development.
Andrea Illy, President of illycaffè and Co-founder of the Ernesto Illy Foundation: “Happiness, in this period, seems to elude us. In reality, it is precisely in difficult moments that the most critical factors for a happy life are strengthened, such as solidarity, which unites us allowing us to solve the most unthinkable problems, thus giving us back that feeling of security that we lack.
illycaffè and the Ernesto Illy Foundation have been supporting the World Happiness Report for 13 years, deeply sharing its fundamental values: the pursuit of happiness, the promotion of sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and the well-being of people.
Our business model is designed to generate well-being throughout the supply chain globally, from producer to consumer, with the creation of economic, social and environmental value; In addition, our corporate identity is strongly linked to attention to health and inclusion, fundamental elements of happiness.”
In the latest ranking of the world’s happiest countries, Finland retains the top spot for the eighth consecutive year. Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) enter the top 10 for the first time, while Lithuania (16th), Slovenia (19th), and the Czech Republic (20th) reflect the growing convergence of happiness levels across Eastern, Central, and Western Europe. Meanwhile, the United States drops to 24th, its lowest ranking ever. Italy climbs one position to 40th.
A collaboration between Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR Editorial Board, the World Happiness Report has, since its first publication in 2012, underscored the growing recognition of happiness and well-being as essential considerations for government policy and societal progress.
