Happiness does not derive from a person’s wealth; rather, it derives from the feelings of safety, connection and trust that people have with those around them during their lives. This is something that continues to be demonstrated through the consistent performance of one country.
For the ninth consecutive year, Finland has been rated the world’s happiest country according to the World Happiness Report (latest edition, published January 2023). Not only is this the third time that Finland has achieved this award, but Finland has also demonstrated this trend multiple times over the past decade.
Many individuals tend to think of happiness rankings and scores solely in terms of their respective economic or monetary measures; however, the World Happiness Report takes a vastly different approach by approaching how people themselves have evaluated their lives based on how they feel about them, not simply how much money they have earned.
Finland continues to demonstrate this trend via a number of factors. The country regularly earns high scores in the most important areas of life, such as trust among citizens, quality and quantity of social support, equality of opportunity and a lawful government that provides social security to its citizens—providing them with an overall sense of security.
According to Alexander Stubb (Director of the Institute for Social Investment), the key to Finland’s success does not lie in any one particular area. Instead, he states that Finland’s success can simply be attributed to its focus on fairness, freedom and balance when developing policies or enacting laws/initiatives that address the everyday needs of citizens.
Cities such as Helsinki experience conversations about available thinking space, breathing time, frame of reference that allows for a slower pacing of life rather than a fast-paced lifestyle that keeps people from taking time out. There’s no need for glamour to create this type of environment.
An example of one of the anomalies that researchers use as an indicator is: will someone return a missing wallet? On the surface, it might not sound relevant, but it serves as an example of the level of trust that exists within our communities.
The Nordic nations score extremely high on both expectation and performance in this area. In fact, people consistently return lost property more frequently than most individuals could conceive.
The other Nordic Nations, from Denmark to Iceland, Sweden through to Norway, all continue to collectively place close to the top of the list as consistently co-occurring.
Consequently, the focus is less on success and more upon the creation of well-functioning programs that provide direct support to our people; such as providing adequate, accessible healthcare programs, access to high-quality education, and effective social safety nets designed to support and build up our communities.
Currently, the Nordic Nations continue to be at the top of the charts, while many other nations continue to slide backward.
Researchers have tracked a significant growth in solo dining in America within the past two decades. They attribute this phenomenon to weakened social connections. Researchers indicate that simply engaging in a shared dining experience with another person can have a greater impact upon contributing the happiness of an individual than would be assumed.
The United Kingdom has experienced declining happiness levels; it has the poorest overall life satisfaction score it has had in the years tracked by the World’s Happiness Report.
Costa Rica and Mexico have both ranked in the global top 10 for the first time. At the same time, Israel remains in a high-ranking position despite its continuous war with neighboring countries, which suggests that happiness does not always have to be correlated with peace.
At the other end of the happiness ranking spectrum, Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the happiness list contributing to worsening conditions for women. Sierra Leone and Lebanon are also located at the bottom of the list.
Almost 1 out of 5 young adults globally reports they do not have a reliable person of support in their lives, indicating a more significant amount of young adults feel and have experienced being disconnected from those in their lives as compared to previous years.
Happiness cannot be accomplished by accumulating more but rather occurs daily through a sense of connection, support, and safety.
No magic recipe, just a system and mode that are focused on putting people first.
