Finland Is the World’s Happiest Country in 2024—Here’s Why

The report, which was launched on March 20 in honor of the UN’s Worldwide Day of Happiness, was compiled utilizing surveys of 100,000-plus folks dwelling in 143 international locations carried out over the previous three years. Contributors have been requested to fee their present life satisfaction on a ladder scale of 1 to 10, with 10 reflecting most satisfaction. And the researchers evaluated variables like social assist, gross home product (GDP), life expectancy, freedom, and confidence in authorities for every nation to assist contextualize the contributors’ life satisfaction rankings.

Taking these components into consideration, Finland got here out on high by way of happiness. And its close by neighbors weren’t far behind; actually, each nation that makes up the Nordic area—Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway—ranked within the high 10 on the listing.

What nation has the most effective life satisfaction?

The outcomes are in: Finnish persons are dwelling the great (like, actually good) life. In keeping with the report, every of the Nordic international locations has remained constant of their rankings since earlier than the pandemic, suggesting that their capacity to adapt to the altering tides of the pandemic years could also be each a trigger and an impact of their sustained happiness.

Findings from the Group for Financial Cooperation and Growth (OECD) Better Life Index additionally put Finland forward of the common nation in key areas comparable to schooling, work-life steadiness, environmental high quality, social connections, security, and life satisfaction.

Why is Finland the world’s happiest nation?

Whereas a number of the components that contribute to Finland’s excessive rating above communicate to governmental establishments and financial realities, others are related extra to the Finnish lifestyle and the happiness concepts ingrained in Nordic tradition.

Specifically, the Finns embrace a concept called sisu, which interprets roughly to “resilience” or “perseverance.” In apply, it seems like difficult your self to uncover your deepest reserves of energy everytime you wish to surrender, leaning on previous constructive experiences whenever you assume you “cannot” make it via one thing, and turning to logic slightly than emotion to remain calm amid chaos. You will not be shocked to study that such a resilient outlook has been associated with stronger mental health¹. (It is no marvel the Finns’ life satisfaction score barely wavered throughout all these unprecedented COVID instances.)

The social assist of the Finns is one more reason why the nation continues to rank so extremely. In keeping with the Higher Life Index (linked above), 96 % of Finns consider they know somebody who they will depend on in a time of want—roughly 5 % greater than the world’s common. That is an particularly highly effective factor amid a global loneliness crisis, and never simply because loneliness can definitely lower life satisfaction and happiness; it is also been proven to have negative health effects, growing an individual’s danger for coronary heart illness, stroke, and dependancy.

Additionally contributing to the Finns’ general life satisfaction, happiness, and emotions of social connectedness is the nation’s wealthy sauna tradition. In a nation of 5.5 million folks, there are roughly 3.3 million saunas, which simply goes to point out the recognition of the apply. And for the Finns, paying a go to to the sauna is not nearly reaping the bodily well being advantages of getting an excellent sweat on; it is equally about taking a break from the calls for of life, discovering a number of moments of peace, and connecting with others—all of which undoubtedly issue into the Finnish folks’s sense of happiness, too.

Within the wake of Finland snagging the “world’s happiest nation” title for the sixth time final 12 months, the nation’s tourism board invited 14 folks from around the globe to join a four-day Masterclass of Happiness program final summer time, after which the important thing Finnish classes for happiness have been compiled in online video tutorials. Functions to affix this 12 months’s five-day happiness journey going down within the nation’s capitol in June, the Helsinki Happiness Hacks Masterclass, are now live through April 4, 2024.

The place does the US rank in happiness?

Primarily based on this 12 months’s World Happiness Report, there couldn’t be a greater time for folks within the States to make use of some Finnish happiness hacks. The US fell to quantity 23 on the report—a steep drop from final 12 months’s spot at quantity 15 and a brand new low for the nation.

In keeping with the researchers behind the report, that’s due partly to different nations getting happier inside the previous couple of years, in addition to decrease ranges of happiness amongst youthful folks, specifically, throughout the 50 states. This 12 months’s iteration of the report was the primary one to categorize survey respondents by age. In the USA, happiness scores from youthful folks (30 and under) have been a lot decrease than these from folks above the age of 60, reflecting the actual rise of mental health issues like anxiety and the growing loneliness epidemic among young people on this nation.

The ten happiest international locations in 2024:

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Israel
6. Netherlands
7. Norway
8. Luxembourg
9. Switzerland
10. Australia