The happiest country in the world
Finland, the land of a thousand lakes and endless forests, has once again claimed the title of the world’s happiest country. This has left many people wondering what secret ingredient the Finns have sprinkled on their salmon soups.
Interestingly, the Finns themselves often react to the ranking with amusement and a bit of confusion, pondering the irony of being deemed the happiest while enduring long, dark winters with all the slush. Not to mention having famously melancholy and rather depressing Christmas carols, a popular one going: “Life only lasts for a moment, and even that is gloomy and tedious”.
It is not only the Finns themselves who find the happiness ranking peculiar. Among foreigners, Finnish people are not exactly known for their joyful nature. In fact, the stereotype of the stoic, reserved Finn is not entirely unfounded. When you walk down the streets of Helsinki, you’re more likely to encounter serious faces than outward displays of joy. The famous Finnish poet Eino Leino did once write that the one who has happiness, should hide it. Well, it seems like the Finns are good at that.
Regardless of the reactions to the happiness ranking, there must be real reasons why Finland is doing so well in it. Let’s explore them.
What makes Finland the happiest
In the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2024 that includes over 140 countries, Finland ranked as the happiest with a score of 7.74, followed by Denmark with a score of 7.58. This ranking is made based on life evaluations that people from participating countries have given. To find out more about how happiness is measured, scroll to the bottom.
When doing their life evaluations, the Finns gave their lives the overall best score. Here are some of the reasons that help explain why:
Trust & freedom
According to the WHR, the Finns have a great level of trust in their society and freedom to live the way they want. In the Freedom in the World 2024 report, Finland also placed 1st when it comes to people’s political rights and civil liberties. The country’s press is ranked the 5th freest in the world, and corruption levels are deemed the 2nd lowest – further highlighting the Finns’ trust in each other and the society as a whole. Additionally, elections are free and fair, and the Finns have a great deal of trust in their President.
In Finland, being able to live like you want is a result of many things from largely free education and freedom of expression to political and religious freedom. The country also has one of the world’s highest levels of gender equality and advanced LGBTQ+ rights. It is prohibited to discriminate against people because of their ethnicity, sexuality, religion, gender, or other personal characteristics.
Social support & security
The WHR also showed that the Finns have strong social support. That is, someone to count on if you need them. Additionally, the Finnish social security system provides people with economic security and assistance in changing life situations.
A notable achievement in recent years has been the reduction in homelessness. In Finland, the number of homeless people has reduced faster than anywhere else in Europe – thanks to offering affordable apartments to people in need without any preconditions.
Healthcare
According to WHO, women in Finland are expected to live 71 and men 69 healthy years, both of which are above the European average. This is thanks to the country’s extensive and affordable, publicly funded healthcare.
Economic well-being
Finland has the 27th highest GDP per capita in the world, but does money really bring happiness? Many have argued that it does not, but if countries’ placement in the WHR are compared to their GDP per capita, a clear correlation can be seen between them: countries with a higher GDP per capita tend to have higher happiness scores.
The Finns have a great level of trust in their society and freedom to live the way they want
Nature & freedom to roam
The Finnish Happiness Institute highlights the significance of nature to well-being. In Finland, a country filled with forests and lakes, clean nature is never far away. Not even in the capital city Helsinki.
Thanks to everyman’s right, everyone in the country has the freedom to roam and enjoy nature anywhere regardless of land ownership. Nature offers calm and quiet as well as a chance for many activities – such as hiking, fishing, berry picking, and skiing.
Safety
Being able to feel safe is undeniably an important ingredient of happiness. Finland has a low crime rate and is ranked as the 13th most peaceful country in the world. It is also worth mentioning that a major part of the Finns trust the police to treat people fairly and respectfully.
In Finland, a country filled with forests and lakes, clean nature is never far away
Work-life balance
The Finnish work culture values the importance of free time. Usually, the Finns work eight hours five days a week. This is around the global average. However, people are entitled to multiple paid national holidays as well as plenty of paid vacation days. Usually people take four weeks off work during the summer holidays and a week off during winter. This gives people time to relax, unwind, and travel. Paid maternity and paternity leaves are also long.
Especially after the pandemic, the amount of people who work remotely has increased a lot in the country. The strong trust in employees’ ability to work independently provides greater opportunities for a flexible working life.
So, what is the takeaway?
Although the Finns – and often foreigners as well – like to joke about Finland being ranked the happiest, it is clear that there is a lot to be happy about when living in the country. From being able to live life your own way and trust others to public healthcare and economic well-being, happiness is a result of many things.
No matter how dark and cold it gets in Finland, many important ingredients of happiness are still there. The country has cultivated an environment where simple contentment in life can flourish, even if it’s not always worn on people’s sleeves. As we can see, happiness does not necessarily wear a smile – sometimes it wears a serious Finnish poker face.
How happiness is measured
Life evaluations
In the World Happiness Report, the rankings are based on one of the Gallup World Poll’s questions: “Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you stand?”.
Answers to this provide a life evaluation from each respondent and a measurement of their contentment in life. About 1,000 responses are gathered annually from each participating country. A country’s ranking is determined by its average life evaluation score over the past three years.
Key explanatory factors
Although the happiness ranking is done according to the life evaluations, an important question still remains: what makes a country rank higher than others?
To explain this, the WHP takes six key explanatory factors into consideration. These factors do not affect the ranking, but help understand the variations in happiness.
The six factors are:
- GDP per capita.
- Healthy life expectancy.
- Social support. The Gallup World Poll respondents’ answers to whether they have someone to count on in times of trouble.
- Freedom. Answers to whether the respondents are satisfied with their freedom to choose what to do with their lives.
- Generosity. The respondents’ answers to whether they have donated money to a charity in the past month. The country’s GDP per capita is taken into account.
- Perceptions of corruption. Answers to whether the respondents think corruption is widespread throughout their country’s government and within businesses.
The World Happiness Report is provided by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR’s Editorial Board.
Sources: Business Finland; Corruption Perceptions Index 2024; Foundation for Municipal Development; Freedom in the World 2024; Gender Inequality Index; Global Finance; Global Peace Index 2024; Ministry of the Environment; Police Barometer 2022; Statista; The Finnish Happiness Institute; ThisisFINLAND; WHO; Work in Finland; World Happiness Report 2024; World Press Freedom Index 2024.
