Once again, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, according to the United Nations World Happiness Report. Measures to determine countries’ happiness rankings include social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of corruption. The Scandinavian country has been able to hold the title for four years due to the community’s outstanding ability to maintain a sense of inner happiness despite external circumstances—something they have been praised for on a global scale.
Heli Jimenez, the senior director of international marketing at Business Finland, shared some insight on “Finnish happiness”. “Finnish happiness isn’t skin deep and immediately visible—it’s deeply ingrained in our being. Sustainable happiness is our superpower, and it means we tend to take life as it comes—a trait that is helping us through these challenging times.”
Conducted by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, The World Happiness Report selects different criteria and themes to help rank the happiest countries each year. This year’s Happiness Report was faced with a unique challenge in trying to understand what effect the pandemic has had on subjective well-being and vice versa. There was a “significantly higher frequency of negative emotions,” pointing to the effects of the pandemic.
The report focused on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives and evaluated how governments all over the world have dealt with the pandemic. While certain countries topping the list may have suffered more significantly throughout the pandemic, the report still found that a country’s ability to encourage a positive mindset regardless of external factors was the leading factor behind collective happiness.
Jimenez added, “We appreciate the small things in our daily lives, such as sitting quietly on a bench and staring at the empty lake after a relaxing sauna session or taking a morning dip in the sea before starting the working day.”
The World Happiness Report saw Denmark in second place, followed by Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands. New Zealand was again the only non-European nation in the top 10. For more information or to see the full report, visit the official World Happiness Report website.
Related: The World’s Sexiest Accent In 2020?
