Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row. While the Scandinavian countries lead the ranking, Germany continues to slip. What is the secret of Finnish happiness?
The happiest people on earth live far up north. For the seventh year in a row, Finland is the country with the happiest population in the world, according to the annual report World Happiness Report emerges. Afterwards, the top positions are again largely occupied by northern countries. Finland was followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel. Germany, on the other hand, made a significant move downwards and slipped from 16th place to 24th place. The ranking includes a total of 143 countries. In the report, the scientists looked at the period between 2021 and 2023.
Subjective assessments of the lives of the population living in the country were assessed. Global happiness inequality has increased by more than twenty percent across all regions and age groups over the past twelve years. According to the World Happiness Report, the unhappiest country is Afghanistan. There is a difference of around six points on the average happiness scale from 0 to 10 between the country of the happiest people, Finland (7.7), and the unhappiest country Afghanistan (1.7). Germany has a value of 6 on the scale. 7; in the World Happiness Report from 2023 it was 6.9.
| World Happiness Report 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
1. Finland | ||
2. Denmark | ||
3. Iceland | ||
4. Sweden | ||
5. Israel | ||
(…) | ||
24. Germany | ||
(…) | ||
143. Afghanistan |
Great satisfaction in the north
So how do the Northern Lights manage to be – and stay – so happy year after year? “What all Scandinavian or Nordic countries have in common is that they have very small populations that are very down-to-earth,” says Catarina Lachmund to the dpa news agency. She is a senior analyst at the Institute for Happiness Research in Denmark. Happiness can be defined as satisfaction.
In Finland this starts in schools. Emotional skills are part of the curriculum in all Finnish educational institutions. In some schools it is even taught as an independent subject, such as in the Kilteri School in Vanta. Here, seventh graders look together for suitable words for good and bad feelings, explains teacher Annika Lehikoinen: “Young people are very emotional, and they learn that it’s okay to feel all feelings. It’s very important that they understand: too “If I have negative feelings, I have to treat everyone with appreciation. Where can you learn this better than at school?”
Communication or the ability to work in a team – these are skills that children should acquire at school. You shouldn’t get caught up in a negative vortex that, in the worst case, ends in mental illness. But even when things aren’t going well in life, help is available in a way that has long been unique. An example: Homeless people should get off the streets. Politicians have decided to be ready by 2027. The concept is called “Housing First”, meaning you first get a home and then carefully become part of society again.
People at the center
John Helliwell also says that the focus is on people – that is an important part of Finnish culture. He is one of the researchers working on the World Happiness Report. In Finland, one’s own satisfaction is strongly linked to the satisfaction of others, says the Canadian economist. “Finns trust each other, they care about each other. And they have a very high level of equal opportunities in terms of education, health and social standing. Finns compare themselves less and are not as competitive with each other as people in many other countries.”
It’s not necessarily that Finland has the most excessively happy people, but rather that there are very few extremely unhappy people in Finland, says Finnish psychologist Frank Martela. This also contributes to people comparing themselves less with others. It is precisely this compensation that makes a difference.
A Finnish folk wisdom says: There is no need to be envious. Because even if someone else has or can do something special: I’m still not missing anything, after all, they didn’t take it away from me. “What she [die Finnen] What really stands out is social support and trust,” says Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the authors of the World Happiness Report. This is particularly about social cohesion. “When it comes to friends you can rely on, it’s about the state , who you can rely on in times of need – they trust each other.”
Trust in supporting institutions
And it is precisely this trust that people from the north also have in their government and institutions. Not least through a calm manner. “I would like to call it waiting. Now we’ll take a look at it calmly, drink a coffee and eat a cinnamon roll. And then we’ll make a decision that will be approved by the majority of the population is covered,” says Lachmund, describing the Nordic tranquility. “One factor is that the government functions effectively, but above all that it is actually able to be there for the citizens, says psychologist Martela.
Overall, a lot has changed in the ranking of the happiest countries, especially in the middle. Germany slipped eight places down. The assessment of life or the quality of life as experienced by people in Germany is somewhat lower this time than last year. In the list, the largest countries are no longer among the happiest 20 – the USA also went down: 23rd place instead of last place 15th.
“In other countries, life ratings have increased, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, and this has obviously pushed them out of the top 20,” says De Neve, assessing the shifts. Countries such as Lithuania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic in particular have increased in satisfaction. In order to dethrone the Nordic states, a lot more change will probably be needed. “I would hope that the reason that the Scandinavian countries will eventually lose the top position is because other countries have become better at this,” says Martela. According to him, the other countries can only learn something from the north.
With information from Sofie Donges, ARD Studio Stockholm