How happy is Finland really?

For the seventh year in a row, Finland has been declared the happiest country in the world. 

The Nordic nation and new Nato member topped the ranking of 143 countries and territories in the annual World Happiness Report, released to coincide with the International Day of Happiness (20 March). The UN-sponsored survey, now a publication of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, asks citizens to evaluate their life and considers factors like GDP, generosity, life expectancy, freedom and trust.

Many Western countries have dropped down the index – in fact, the US has dropped out of the top 20 for the first time since the survey began more than a decade ago. So how did Finland – which infamously had the highest suicide rate in the world in 1990, and now faces the rumbling threat of Putin's Russia on its doorstep – buck the trend? 

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What did the commentators say?

"Finnish society is permeated by a sense of trust, freedom and high level of autonomy," Jennifer De Paola, a happiness researcher at the University of Helsinki, told DW. The healthy work-life balance, low corruption and a close connection to nature also contributed to the high level of self-reported satisfaction, but there are cultural perceptions at play too. 

Finns have a "more attainable understanding of what a successful life is", said De Paola, compared with places where success is measured in wealth.

Finns "enjoy simple pleasures", said VisitFinland – like "clean air, pure water and walking around in the woods". Finland is one of only seven countries whose air quality met World Health Organization standards, according to the most recent IQAir report. And nearly 90% of Finns believe that nature is important in their lives, according to a 2021 survey. 

The accessibility of nature "surely plays a part", said Lucy Pearson in The Guardian, with 41 free-to-enter national parks, 647 rivers, nearly 700 miles of shoreline – and "tens of thousands of islands". 

But Finns also enjoy more tangible benefits from their strong welfare state, with publicly funded healthcare, free education, smooth-running public services and low levels of crime. 

"Research shows that the higher the levels of trust within a country, the happier its citizens are," said Finnish philosopher and psychology researcher Frank Martela on CNBC. "Finnish people tend to trust each other and value honesty." An experiment by Reader's Digest in 2022 tested global honesty by dropping 12 wallets in 16 cities around the world. Helsinki came out top, with 11 of the 12 wallets being returned to the owner.

Finland also boasts one of the lowest levels of income inequality, wrote University of Oxford professor Danny Dorling on The Conversation. In 2023, the highest-paid tenth of Finland's population took home a third of all income (33%) – compared with 36% in the UK, and 46% in the US. 

"These differences may not appear great, but they have a huge effect on overall happiness," wrote Dorling, "because so much less is left for the rest in the more unequal countries – and the rich become more fearful." 

It's possible the World Happiness Report is "beginning to introduce its own bias", added Dorling. Finns "know why they are being asked the question".

They also say the ranking "points to a more complex reality", said The New York Times. Rather than "happy", Finns were more likely to characterise themselves as "quite gloomy", "a little moody" or "not given to unnecessary smiling" rather than "happy". Many "shared concerns about threats to their way of life", including the rise of the far right, the war in Ukraine and the threat posed by Russia. 

The picture is even more complex for minorities. In a population that is more than 90% white, a Black gay man in Finland often feels "that you are the only person in the room", Jani Toivola, the first Black member of Finland's parliament, told the NYT.

What next?

For the fifth year in a row, the UK has slipped down the global happiness rankings, finding itself now at 20th. More concerningly, Brits under 30 ranked 32nd in the happiness rankings, behind El Salvador (a brutal dictatorship). 

So what can the UK's youth learn from their Finnish counterparts? Finns "focus on contentment over joy", said Pearson. Lower expectations leave less room for disappointment, meaning that contentment is (more often than not) "well within reach".

"There is a Finnish proverb that seems relevant here," said Dorling: onnellisuus on se paikka puuttuvaisuuden ja yltäkylläisyyden välillä – "happiness is a place between too little and too much".