Honesty is the best policy, right? Well, that depends where you are.


Reader’s Digest conducted a study to determine the most and least honest cities in the world. The test was simple: researchers dropped a dozen wallets in 16 different cities and watched to see if the people who picked them up kept them or turned them in to an official. Each wallet contained the equivalent of $50, along with pictures and contact information.

Helsinki, Finland can now add most honest city to its tourism brochures because that city led the way, with 11 of the 12 wallets returned. Lisbon, Portugal, meanwhile, brought up the rear – only one wallet was returned.

Out of 192 total wallets dropped, slightly under half were turned in, while men and women were equally likely to keep or hand back the wallets.

Here are the complete results, with how many cities returned wallets:

1. Helsinki, Finland - 11 out of 12 wallets
2. Mumbai, India - 9 out of 12
3. (tie) Budapest, Hungary - 8 out of 12
3. (tie) New York City, USA - 8 out of 12
5. (tie) Moscow, Russia - 7 out of 12
5. (tie) Amsterdam, Netherlands - 7 out of 12
7. (tie) Berlin, Germany - 6 out of 12
7. (tie) Ljubljana, Slovenia - 6 out of 12
9. (tie) London, UK - 5 out of 12
9. (tie) Warsaw, Poland - 5 out of 12
11. (tie) Bucharest, Romania - 4 out of 12
11. (tie) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 4 out of 12
11. (tie) Zurich, Switzerland - 4 out of 12
13. Prague, Czech Republic - 3 out of 12
14. Madrid, Spain - 2 out of 12
15. Lisbon, Portugal - 1 out of 12

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