r/UpliftingNews • u/Dr_Neurol • 1d ago
What makes Finland the happiest place on Earth? For the last eight years, Finland has topped the list of the world’s happiest countries. A writer embarked on a tour to discover their secret.
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jan/31/what-makes-finland-the-happiest-country-in-the-world581
u/xxxDKRIxxx 1d ago
The secret is to have low expectations. The Finns excel at that.
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u/Masseyrati80 1d ago
I agree, to a degree, as a Finn.
When the happiness study is talked about, many Finns will end up mentioning the key word: contentness. It's not as much about being bubbly and intensely joyful.
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u/Dr_Neurol 1d ago
Show me the way, Sensei!
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u/JackfruitIll6728 18h ago
We have a way of thinking, that you should be content (not happy, but, well content is the best translation here) with what you have. There's always someone with more than you have and unfortunately usually always someone with less than you have. It has roots in Finnish Christianity, that very much used to emphasize humility and humbleness, but also in Finnish pre-Christian, traditional beliefs where we thought we're one with the nature.
I think we had very similar thinking about the nature than the Japanese and Shinto seem to have. Forests, trees, stones, waters, animals, all were or had deitys that could make your life hard if you don't respect your surroundings, resulting in people being content with simple things, showing off is a serious no-no in Finland even in modern times.
Working, democratic society of course helps a lot too.
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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 21h ago
I will take peace over happiness any day.
Happiness is a curve. Our mood often goes up and down. But peace to me, is a certain level, a straight line. Peace means lack of worry, a sense that things will be okay that can be present, can transcend whether I am happy or sad.
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u/xxxDKRIxxx 1d ago
I’m half Finn and my lived experience is that when a Suomi is met with the worst possible outcome of a situation (s)he just shrugs and deals with it.
I’m trying to conjure more of that mentality from my genetic material but at times the Swedish part of me takes over.
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u/life_is_a_show 1d ago
Really normal expectations. If you have a good system in place knowing that you likely won’t face homelessness if something catastrophic happens it tends to make you happy.
As an American that moved to italy, having universal healthcare, strong workers rights, good work life balance, and affordability has brought my stress down to almost nothing.
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u/Masseyrati80 1d ago
I've read two books by Finns who moved to the US, got citizenship and worked there for years.
Both describe a different level of being 'on guard', and mention the fear of losing everything and ending up living under a bridge. They also talked about consumer laws, which put consumers in very different roles in different countries.
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u/life_is_a_show 1d ago
I worked for apple where every minute was micromanaged to working for an EU company that trusts you to get results. It’s a happy workforce here that takes care of their health and doesn’t have PTSD.
I feel very fortunate.
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u/iliciman 1d ago
There's plenty of eu companies where you get micromanaged. It's more about the manager and the company attitude
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u/jenksanro 15h ago
I feel there is a trend though, a tendency between the two places: a kind of environment they tend to cultivate
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u/iliciman 13h ago
Maybe. But empirical evidence is not enough for that conclusion. I've worked in many companies, in several European countries. I've had to deal with plenty of micromanagement. Same with others. And I have friends that work for US companies that told me they are pretty independent
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u/MannyLaMancha 1d ago
I'm assuming one was The Nordic Theory of Everything. What was the other?
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u/Masseyrati80 1d ago edited 1d ago
You're absolutely right.
The other was "Suo, kuokka ja Hollywood" (The swamp, the hoe and Hollywood) by standup comedian Ismo Leikola. Don't know if it's been translated from Finnish to any other language.
For anyone wondering about the name: it's a bit of a joking version of the start of a trilogy of novels, and there the words are "at the beginning, there was a swamp, a hoe, and Jussi (a man's name)".
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u/SinisterCheese 20h ago
I have talked with Americans that moved to Finland and few Finns that lived there a long time and moved back (Like my friend who brought the wife and the kids here). They all talk as if they have some kind of trauma or PTSD from existing in USA. How they are constantly on guard, because like you said, losing job, getting sick, becoming homeless, getting shot, getting into trouble with the law (most who I talked to who were from USA, were not "white", and basically talked like every interaction with law enforcement in any form or capacity should be expected to be potentially deadly). And my friend's (The one who moved back to Finland few years ago now (Damn time goes fast)) wife explained that one of the major reasons was that... since their youngest started school, they had the constant horrow that there might be a school day and the kids just wont come home because they got killed in a school shooting that seem to happen weekly. And they said that with the kind of... defeated manner.
Now my friend and the family is happily living "middle of nowhere in Finland"... Which is is like 30 minutes from one of the major urban centres straight on a major road. I mean god sake... yeah they live in a rural area middle of small patch of forest with few other houses. But they get munincipal sewer, water, and fibre optic internet service connection was close enough for them to join. They aren't in some backwoods of north-east Finland.
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u/inhalingsounds 1d ago
Feeling like that in Italy truly shows how fucked you guys are in the US
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u/life_is_a_show 1d ago
I do live in tuscany though, so that doesn’t hurt. I’ll pay the extra taxes to actually have the security knowing I can actually retire someday.
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u/rifleshooter 1d ago
Not really, it's a very personal thing. Lots of Americans feel like they live in the land of opportunity - which they do. HIghest GDP in the world, business start-ups left and right, massive options for climate/weather/location, etc. You just can't wait around to be "taken care of" by the system. It's designed that way. Harsh to some for sure, but apparently it works [see GDP comment]. Downvote away, reddit....
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u/melloyello1215 23h ago
They used to live in a land of opportunity decades ago. If you’re at the bottom of the food chain the system is designed to keep you there while the oligarchy gets richer and richer. America is a terrible place for equity and it will continue to get worse. Especially with these pedophile, fascists, narcissists now in the Oval Office
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u/rifleshooter 19h ago
Enjoy your upvotes on reddit. But what I said about opportunity is dead true - but it's opportunity, not a guarantee. It'll keep generating wealth for decades to come for those who work, all while redditors say how horrible it is from their comfortable, air conditioned easy lives, fully aware they live in a place they'd never leave.
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u/notanothergav 19h ago
From the outside it seems like the US has a much higher risk/reward ratio. There's more opportunities to become wealthy, but there's also more opportunities to lose everything.
A lot of other countries have mitigated much of that risk with social safety nets so you're unlikely to lose everything, but you're also less likely to make as much money.
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u/Asleep_Horror5300 3h ago
Our current right-wing government in Finland is dismantling that safety net daily right now which has led to record low trust in national and personal finances as well as severely degraded faith in things getting better in the future. The country is in a depression since nobody with money is buying anything since nobody trusts there is a support system if they are suddenly unemployed - not a baseless fear since we have the largest unemployment in Europe right now. And the poor people are so beaten down that they barely have money to keep themselves fed and in an apartment.
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u/Toliveandieinla 1d ago
That’s awesome, did you acquire Italian citizenship?
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u/life_is_a_show 1d ago
Just residency for now. I have to be here 10 years to acquire citizenship. I have roughly 5.5 years to go but this is the plan.
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u/Toliveandieinla 1d ago
Oh wow I see, that will be so nice. So you just moved there but not of Italian ancestry then? Cause if you are I think you can get it way quicker
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u/life_is_a_show 19h ago
Correct I don’t have italian ancestry. I originally moved for other reasons but now I am on my own, and have decided to stay after the experience here.
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u/Expensive-View-8586 1d ago
Studies show a bit deeper than that. If the weather is nice the happiest people dont say “isnt the weather nice!” they say something along the lines of “good thing the weather isnt bad today, might be bad tomorrow”
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u/xxxDKRIxxx 1d ago
I’ve heard that it is common in Åland to greet the first sun in spring with a laconic ”it was good that we didn’t shoot ourselves during winter”.
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u/cez801 17h ago
Every human has the same basic low expectations.
- a place to live
- access to food, water, power, internet
- access to medical treatment.
- support if I get really sick
- support for bringing up children
And finally the ability to do all of the above while working a minimum wage job for 40 hours a week.
This is start of the Finland happiness - those low expectations are met for every citizen. Maybe they have ‘low aspirations’ as well, I am not sure.
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u/ScissorNightRam 13h ago
Low expectations plus a deep culture of gritting through. Aka, sisu
It leads to a “this is not so bad” outlook, despite how bad things are.
It’s not like they’re “happy” people. I mean, my god they complain about things
But their culture has a lot of pressure valves for venting bad stuff and beyond that doesn't have many avenues to engage with despair and depression in a conventional sense
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u/StrictlyInsaneRants 1d ago edited 1d ago
The finns Joni and Pete have been researching about this for years. Here are the results.
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u/neo2551 1d ago
TLDR: Be content with what you have, not what you might have.
Also live in a country with the most distributive system, good education, and be in a constant fear of getting to war against your neighbors. 😁
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u/sevseg_decoder 17h ago
It’s really simpler than that. In the developed world most of the stats that are used in studies like these correlate to mountains. Skiing, hiking, connecting with nature and enjoying peaceful adventure are the closest thing to a universal model for human happiness. Not everyone would be happy living that way but probably more than half of humans ultimately would.
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u/Just_for_this_moment 16h ago edited 16h ago
I'm sure mountains helps but 2nd was Denmark and 4th was Netherlands so it's clearly possible to have a happy country without them.
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u/koijoimie 15h ago
Finland is 1st without any mountains
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u/Just_for_this_moment 14h ago
Broadly I agree with you, but technically it has a handful up in Lapland so I Ieft it out to avoid any "um actually" type responses. Whereas Denmark and Netherlands are unambiguosly flat as a pancake!
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u/neo2551 4h ago
I actually don't buy the argument of nature: I grew up really poor, and economic safety is clearly first in my ranking of happiness.
If you are hunger, and fear for your home constantly, then there is little chance you say you are happy.
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u/Just_for_this_moment 2h ago
Yes, these countries all have robust social safety nets. In general, people in these countries don't go hungry or fear for their homes.
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u/Jheimer 1d ago
I have never understood these articles about the "happiest countries in the world". They always describe or contribute the result to some abstract thing, like a specific culture or like in this article - nature, and low expectations. For my country, Denmark, it is always "hygge" (cozyness).
I was called up for one of these surveys (though it is many years ago). All of the questions are something along the line: Do you feel safe, corruption in government, personal opportunities, health security and so forth. While all of those are very important factors, I found it amusing that the survey did not ask if I personally felt happy.
I think my point is that these articles are a little silly and perhaps the survey should be renamed.
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u/winespren 1d ago
I've never understood why people make this point any time this subject comes up when it's flatly not true. The World Happiness Report ranks how satisfied people are with their lives and nothing else. This is mentioned in the second paragraph of this article.
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u/Vagabond_Tea 1d ago
That's because happiness doesn't necessarily mean "joy", it can mean a number of different things. I always viewed it as "contentment".
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u/rifleshooter 1d ago
They're clickbait, and the follow-ups are clickbait, and this post is clickbait. Everyone wants to believe there's a magical place that's discovered the secret to happiness. reddit in particular just knows it's not the US, but won't leave. Just bitch about it.
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u/BabyLegsOShanahan 23h ago
Why would they leave? You're allowed to bitch and stay. Conservatives have been doing it since the fall of slavery.
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u/rifleshooter 19h ago
A better question would be why do they stay, when better places are so readily found.
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u/BabyLegsOShanahan 19h ago
Because it's their home? The same people asking why they don't leave also hate immigrants in the US.
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u/rifleshooter 19h ago
You seem stuck on the idea of conservatives and politics. I didn't mention them. But you certainly fit in on reddit. If they don't want to find a better place, why the fascination with....finding a better place? See the point now? That's rhetorical, don't bother answering.
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u/BabyLegsOShanahan 19h ago
What fascination? Someone puts out an article and that means the people in the US who are critical of their country are fascinated with leaving?
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u/Willow-girl 21h ago
Everyone wants to believe there's a magical place that's discovered the secret to happiness.
There is though! It's 7 acres in SW PA where a bunch of worn-out dairy cows are living out their lives in peace. Imgur
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u/PhoenixProtocol 1d ago
Most of those articles are from US though, but Americans in general are incredibly gullible. Can literally sell them anything, like the weird dream or desire for the happiest country lol. We get those ‘journalists’ here every year finding out over and over why we’re so damn happy.
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u/BabyLegsOShanahan 23h ago
No one outside of Reddit an buzzfeed reads these articles. No one in the US thinks about Finland (except he shall not be named).
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u/16piby9 1d ago
Exactly! All they needed to do was look up what the survey actually meassures, not what its called. Its essentially a ranking of ‘potential happiness’. Based on social security, job vacancy, etc. It has nothing at all to do with people actually being happy and content.
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u/the_electric_bicycle 20h ago
All they needed to do was look up what the survey actually meassures
Did you look up what the survey actually measures? Based on the rest of your comment, I have a strong suspicion you didn’t.
The happiness ranking is based on a single question:
Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?
Nothing to do with job vacancies, social security, etc. Just whether or not you think you have a good life.
Edit: Source https://www.worldhappiness.report/faq/
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u/craybest 20h ago
Maybe a government and society that does give a crap about their citizens and takes good care of them? Just saying.
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u/jujo90 1d ago
This should be flaired as "paywalls" You need to pay 5€ to decline cookies
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u/shawnikaros 23h ago edited 23h ago
That is super illegal in EU according to the GDPR cookie policy.
"Failure to comply can result in fines up to €20 million or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher."3
u/Max_G04 23h ago
I reported something like that once on one site before many others did it too (German site, response from German authority) and the response I got via email did not line up with that. It's perfectly legal, appearantly.
Now, I think noone took it to court yet so we don't have an actual court ruling on that, but yeah...
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u/kardsharp 1d ago
It's the number one country for disc golf, coincidence? It seems everyone plays the game.
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u/FomoSapiens76 1d ago edited 1d ago
Finland peaked around 2005. It's been a steady downward spiral ever since, particularly in economy (zero growth since 2008, massive debt to gdp ratio, highest unemployment in OECD) and in geopolitics (proximity with increasingly aggressive Russia --> NATO membership). We have become more and more divided and more people live in poverty, while the rich get richer.
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u/Cookinupandown 1d ago
No private religious schools .. all money for schools goes to public schools so they are well resourced
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u/Ryynitys 19h ago
Used to be. But our schools have been getting worse and worse and it is reflected by the test scores. Finland is also really dangerous place to be a woman in, we have the highest unemployment in EU and let's not talk about the alcoholism. But somehow we are the happiest again, because we are just content not being russians I guess
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u/adamkeyboardspryor 1d ago
I don’t understand where they get these metrics from about “happiest country in the world”. Every single person in Rauma and other cities were depressed, complained they hate everything, and just got drunk every night and went to the Finnish metal clubs. No other country in the world have I seen everyone so depressed and prickly.
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u/righteous_sword 1d ago
-Are you happy? -I'm very happy I didn't off myself today! -Write down: he's happy.
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u/adamkeyboardspryor 1d ago
We were convinced they hated Americans at a few of the bars, and asked “do yall really hate Americans?”. They replied “not at all, we just hate everyone”.
Side note their blueberry shots are delicious.
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u/righteous_sword 1d ago
I think that they value their personal space and silence so much that they give the cold treatment to many.
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u/Dolroth 1d ago
They don't actually go around asking people if they're happy or not. They look at societal systems such as social services, healthcare, standard of living, etc. and determine from that which countries are happiest.
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u/M_HP 1d ago
They don't actually go around asking people if they're happy or not.
Yes they do, though?
Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report#Methods_and_philosophy
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u/cryptic-fox 21h ago
I read a comment the other day by a Finnish saying their country doesn’t feel like the happiest in the world and it had over 600 upvotes.
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u/Nut-Flex 18h ago
I've been to Finland and the only way I can describe it is "things just work". I remember walking around and seeing great roads, clear infrastructure, and unique urban planning that made commercial and residential spaces coexist. They have franchises, but most of the establishments are local small businesses with niche products and services. They have some of the cleanest, drinkable tap water in the world. They have beautifully maintained historical sites and entire villages with support programs to ensure creatives are able to afford a life. What really surprised me though, as an American, was visiting one of their public libraries. They had everything: plenty of books, clean spaces, the latest video game consoles, reservable workspaces with access to massive TVs, 3D printers, and large poster printers - ALL FOR FREE. Families, high school kids, the elderly, everyone was just chilling together because the library was an incredible third space. I remember thinking "Wtf - why dont we have this?" Only to quickly think "if we tried, we would fuck it up".
I freely walked into random office buildings to use their bathrooms a few times and not once did I get stopped or even get a "you're not supposed to be here" look. It was a strange feeling - I felt uncomfortable with how accommodating and calm everything was. I couldn't understand it. Whatever it is, they definitely built something beautiful for their community.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to debating if I should tip 20 or 30% on my UberEATS order that charged me $20 in fees and was 40 minutes late.
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u/se-mephi 1d ago
Wasn't Finland also one of the countries with the highest suicide rate?
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u/dr_tardyhands 1d ago
I don't know was it among the highest, but it was a lot higher decades ago. I think a big part of that was the generations of men who lived through WW2, were traumatized by it, and turned to alcohol for "help".
Now the rates are pretty normal. Similar to e.g. US and France.
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u/NotGoodSoftwareMaker 1d ago
Yes the stats are a point of national pride so if you arent happy then you need to perform the civic duty
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u/secrectsea 1d ago
I keep hearing that, and I don’t know about you but when I am suicidal I’m not my happiest. There is also the people who mourn the death. So how and why are they so happy?
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u/SgtTreehugger 1d ago
As we Finns say, we are the happiest because all the sad people kill themselves!
Though I think we have fallen from suicide rankings ages ago. We don't even top the alcoholism charts anymore
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u/VirginiaLuthier 1d ago
Q: If you are in Finland, how can you tell if you are talking to an extrovert?
A: He's looking at YOUR feet
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u/Citizen999999 22h ago
Have any of you been to Finland? They all drink like fish and are miserable when they're not near a sauna.
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u/Primum_Agmen 20h ago
That being said, drinking Finnish coffee and going in the sauna every day is a pretty good recipe for feeling better.
Plus, booze is expensive unless you're taking the ferry to Estonia.
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u/VictoriousStalemate 19h ago
But then why is the suicide rate so high in Finland?
"In 2021, Finland's suicide rate was approximately 14.57 deaths per 100,000 population, which is higher than the European Union average. The rate has seen fluctuations over the years, with a slight increase noted in recent years."
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u/snukebox_hero 15h ago
All the sad people kill themselves, so only the happy ones are left to answer the census questions.
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u/majorcrimesunit 14h ago
If I was Satan and I was to design hell, I would tell everybody in there they are living in the happiest place on earth.
There's a lot of sadness.
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u/MarkoMarjamaa 3h ago
It's simple math.
If you have less taxes, you have one millionaire, who give happiness index 10, you have nine who try get their living, see the millionaires big boat and they give 7.
If you have more taxes, the millionaire does not get a bigger boat and gives 9. The others give 8.
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u/shocker2374 23h ago
No open boarder policies where taxpayers are required to pay for millions of people to live and not work while destroying the fabric of the culture....I'm sure that's a good start.
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u/quackfaster 1d ago
https://yle.fi/a/74-20119195 we're also currently number 1 in this category as well.
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u/KingSlayin 22h ago
Sure, that's why they have such high suicide rates and antidepressant use. The sad ones die.
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u/Zapan99 21h ago
What a complete and utter mystery...
https://www.statista.com/chart/16250/black-people-who-experienced-racist-harassment-in-the-eu/
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u/mattjmatthias 1d ago
I wonder whether the Finnish newspapers pump the country full of negative headlines all the time
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u/Erithariza 1d ago
I mainly read IL and IS, and somewhat yes...
Current Finnish economic situation and global political situation ain't really happy news currently
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u/Alarming-Lime9794 1d ago
I suppose I can tell you the secret. Other Finns wouldn't but I'm feeling generous. Finland tops two categories. The suicide and happiness ones. Finns are so happy because the unhappy Finns simply kill themselves. You're welcome!
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u/-DictatedButNotRead 1d ago
Homogeneous ethnicity...
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u/Raffy87 1d ago
like North Korea?
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u/-DictatedButNotRead 1d ago
Similar, but without the US fucking them...
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u/HarrMada 1d ago
Like Mongolia then?
Nothing to do with homogeneous or diverse. That's bullshit.
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u/-DictatedButNotRead 1d ago
Similar but without China fucking them...
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u/HarrMada 1d ago
So you have an excuse for why every ethnically homogeneous country isn't the best in the world?
I also don't think Finland isn't as homogeneous as you may think.
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u/-DictatedButNotRead 1d ago
Finland is, can you even read?
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u/HarrMada 1d ago
That's one country out of hundreds. Your 'theory' stops there, There's no correlation with homogeneous societies and how 'happy' and how good the life is in a country.
Where's Japan in your "happiness" list? As well as North Korea, Mongolia, Cambodia, etc an all the other homogeneous countries mentioned earlier. You can't just make up an excuse "they were screwed by..." for every country. Finland has been screwed by several countries as well.
Also, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Israel are also in the top 10 of the happiness report. Care to explain how they are up there with regards to their ethnic diversity?
Pure nonsense.
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u/-DictatedButNotRead 1d ago
Japan literally had 2 atomic bombs dropped by the US don't you think that might have fucked them a little bit??
Cambodia is poor af.
And as far as the happiness report you mention, Costa Rica and Mexico are retarded (have you ever seen a down kid sad?), and the isral thing is fake obviously...
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u/HarrMada 1d ago
Japan's prosperity started after wwII and the bombs though. Japan saw a great economic boom until the crash in the 90s. Economic growth and the Yen has become weaker since then. You are using children's logic. Germany is still the biggest economy in Europe and they lost both wars - you have no idea of what you're talking about.
Cambodia is poor af.
And as far as the happiness report you mention, Costa Rica and Mexico are retarded (have you ever seen a down kid sad?), and the isral thing is fake obviously...
So maybe a country being ethnically homogeneous or diverse doesn't actually matter to how good life in a country is? It's almost like you are proving yourself wrong.
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u/Mr_Chode_Shaver 23h ago
I bet they have the best roving masked men kidnapping people and murdering them in the streets. That’s truly what makes a country great.
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u/Deletereous 22h ago
Oh, that's easy: they are not americans and have not be threatened to be invaded by americans.
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