Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.
Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.
Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.
There’s no way. It’s dark half the year and every Finnish people I met didn’t look happy at all, or at least they didn’t express it whatsoever.
meanwhile, in America…
“oooh, unhappiness? how dreadfully monetizeable!”
starts big pharma antidepressants corporation
The dining alone hits. The lack of community is palpable in corporate America.
I am American and can confirm I feel like this.
Understandable, especially with what’s going on here.
I thought Finland and Nordic countries were notoriously depressed all winter??
that’s just the loganberries talking.
“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”
Damn that was very well said
Wealth is just the hoarding of imaginary credits representing the hours of other people’s work.
“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.”
Destruction of our society and pollution of our only Earth for paper strips.
Going out without worrying about getting robbed, killed, eating food that’s gonna upset your tummy because someone neglected health regulations, slipping on a turd on the sidewalk someone deliberately didn’t clean up after their dog, overpaying for stuff, getting fucked by the government (be it taxes, inflation, stupid rules).
Yet politicians getting paid in cold hard cash for approving overpriced shit so some wealthy fuck can fill his pockets even more.
We could constructing a Dyson sphere if it wasn’t for fuckers that siphon the money that could be used to improve everyone’s life.
Well, the taxes we have here in Denmark are quite high. We either have the fourth highest rate of tax compared to GDP or the highest, depending on which source you go by. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_tax_revenue_to_GDP_ratio
The thing is just that taxes means that the money gets spent directly on improving the lives of the people who live here, instead of people having to buy stuff like health care through companies that skim off the top, and who uses the money you pay them to employ people who try to find ways to not help you.
Taxes helps ensure that everything runs efficiently. A healthier population who are more productive, infrastructure that prevents disruptions to business and daily lives alike, and ensuring that people don’t have to resort to crime if they lose their job or get ill. Crime is another source of inefficiency that gets significantly reduced.
Everything helps ensure that the average person is in a much better state of mind, and mood is contagious - even those who pay the most benefit off of it, and pretty much everyone here agrees that it’s money well spent.
In Danish politics, even the right wing would be considered leftists in the US - we have a lot of political parties (16 in parliament, with 4 of them being from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland).
Back in 1960, the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00
In ‘Hell’s Angels’ Hunter Thompson had a chapter about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. Six months of a full time Union job as a stevedore paid enough for a biker to hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could afford to support herself and her musician boyfriend.
Of course people were happy here.
You know what hilarious?
There’s a sub minimum wage in America for people that earn tips (minimum of 30$ in tips a month), youths, and the disabled.
Sub minimum wage is a whopping 2.13$
My paternal grandparents were both Finnish immigrants. Do I have a path to citizenship? Please say yes, I would like to leave the 4th Reich as soon as possible.
There are so few professional-level expatriates that processes are not well formed and bureocracy might hit you, but personally I welcome you here.
Oddly enough, our problem is that not enough good people are migrating in. But it’s not trivial: https://www.infofinland.fi/en/moving-to-finland/non-eu-citizens
Shoot, it sounds like they need to be living relatives. Ah well, have a sauna for me sometime. :(
https://www.infofinland.fi/en/moving-to-finland/non-eu-citizens/remigration-to-finland
”If you have Finnish ancestry or a close connection with Finland, you may be granted a residence permit in Finland on this basis. This means that you are considered a returnee (paluumuuttaja). Receiving a residence permit depends on the directness and closeness of your Finnish ancestry. No other reason, such as work or study, is required in order to receive the permit.”
Not an expert but I would imagine grandparents is considered pretty close and direct.
… time to find out how much old paperwork the family has stashed away!
And win the lottery to afford moving costs, but one step at a time.
If you find a job, and move here, you will gain permanent residency in 5-8 years. Jobs are listed here: https://www.workinfinland.com/en/open-jobs/
There is everything listed there.
We are the happiest because we don’t give a fuck. Today I took my bike to work and slipped on some ice. Hurt my back a bit. What I did was yell “PERKELE!” and just go on my merry way. Work was shit but what can you do.
Best day of my life.
Must be nice to not worry about injuries bringing financial ruin like in the USA.
I spent a night in the ER, had some tests done, puked on the CT scan machine, got some meds, and the most expensive part of that trip was the taxi home.
I know people that have had to take an Uber instead of an ambulance because of the costs.
It’s easy to not give a fuck based on your own material conditions.
Today I took my bike to work
Damn, I have to sit in about 8 hours of traffic per week for a commute to work. Doesn’t leave much time for exercise, you know, like bicycling.
sigh
Any culture built on keeping yer yap shut is always bound to have less trouble. My Finn friend just nodded in agreement. Haven’t heard him speak a full sentence in years…
I love people from Finland.
You are all like seals, letting the bad vibes roll off your back.
Also, always nibbling on fish.
And Canada appears to have reduced happiness, I suspect due in part to our proximity to the USA.
The United States is still at 24th, where do they rank amongst first world countries?
they kinda don’t rank amongst 1st world countries
Presumably nr 24…
I don’t get how Finland managed to push Denmark to 2nd place?? 🤔
We have way more bacon and beer than they do. 🥓🥓 🍻🍻
Look I even had enough beer and bacon to share it with EVERYBODY on the internet!!Anyways congrats to our Finish brothers. 👍 😀
We all decided to lie on the questionnaire just to screw over you guys and especially Sweden.
🥓🥓Maybe🍻🍻, but we have 🍸vodka🍸 and russian drinking habbits. All the sad people are dead.
Oh so that’s the secret, I thought there was something fishy about this, very clever and well played. 😋
My recollection of danish food was, you can have meat you like as long as it came from a pig. Wouldn’t surprise me if the beer was similar.
Damn socialists with their happiness. If my neighbour is happy, it makes me mad /s
conservatives: “Socialism Bad!”
“Then why are socialist countries like Norway and Finland (and many similar countries) having a higher quality of life?”
conservatives: “That’s not Socialism!”
“Great, why don’t we switch to whatever that system is?”
conservatives: “😡😡😡”
Social democracy, not socialism (though in the same extended family)
I know, I was mocking the murican perspective.
You joke, but this is literally how the average American thinks.
I literally had that conversation.
