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Finland is 2018’s happiest nation; the reasons, analysis and factors that work for them

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In the latest World Happiness report for 2018, Finland is number one. The country has been ranked the most stable, the safest and best governed country in the world. It is also among the least corrupt and the most socially progressive.
So, what works for Finland? Especially in a country where temperatures range in the vicinity of -20°C most of the year and some parts do not even get sunlight; why is the happiness quotient so high. Definitely worth a thought and study. We tried to analyse.

Its police are the world’s most trusted and its banks the soundest. Even though the Nordic countries pay one of the highest taxes in the world, the general support for the Government’s policies is high. People see them as investments for wellbeing. To add to this, free healthcare and university education are seen as big positives by the citizens.

The World Happiness Report used global polling data from Gallup to measure how pleased people felt with their lives. The researchers then tried to explain the differences using variables such as GDP per person, social support, healthy-life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. This year’s report measured immigrant happiness for the first time and Finland topped this category as well. This suggests that happy societies are those with supportive social systems and institutions that make it harder for people to fall through the cracks.

A Finnish saying sums it up well: “Happiness is having your own red summer cottage and a potato field.” Free education, generous parental leave and a healthy work-life balance ensures people have the time and the means to pursue their pleasures. Over 80% of Finns trust the country’s police, education and health-care systems. And because of progressive taxation and wealth redistribution, the lifestyles of the rich and the poor are not dramatically divergent. Neither are those of men and women. Finland is widely considered one of the best places in the world to be a mother in and to be a working woman. Though suicide rates are distressingly high, Finland has reduced these by 30% since 2000.

A sure example for other countries to emulate. Yes, they do not have the vastness, high per capita density and below poverty line kind of existential issues like most South Asian countries have; yet the general mindset to want to enhance the country towards growth, is something many of us need to learn from.

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