Helsinki, Finland, is the world`s most honest city! In a research performed in a
total of 16 cities, the Finnish capital came to the top position, leaving behind major metropolitan centers around the world, like New York, London and Berlin.
The test was quite simple: 12 wallets were dropped in central places of the 16 cities. The wallets were containing family photographs, contact details and the equivalent of around 50 dollars in local currency, in cash.
Of the 192 wallets "lost", just under half were returned. What is more interesting though, is that depending on city the results were very very different.
In the study commissioned by Reader`s Digest, the number one position of the World`s most honest city belongs to Finland`s capital Helsinki, where 11 or the total 12 wallets "lost" were returned.The worst position belongs to Lisbon, where just one wallet was returned and that by a Dutch couple visiting on holiday
!The study also showed that the fact that a place was rich or poor had no effect whatsoever on whether people kept the wallets they found or not.
For example, Mumbai, India came second-best in the study, returning nine out of the 12 wallets found, even though the 3000 rupees each wallet contained was massively of more value for its inhabitants
compared to, for example, the 43 francs in Zurich, Switzerland, where only four wallets were returned; giving the wealthy European city the 11th (out or 16 total) position on the honesty list...
