The World Happiness Report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre, has named Finland, home to Lapland and Father Christmas, the world’s happiest country for a seventh year in a row.
How are the happiest countries identified?
The World Happiness Report (WHR) is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR’s Editorial Board.
The happiness scores are based on the resident populations in each country, rather than their citizenship or place of birth.
The WHR measurement of subjective well-being relies on three main well-being indicators, namely life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The happiness rankings are based on life evaluations, as the more stable measure of the quality of people’s lives.
Six key variables form part of the average life evaluations per country. These are: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and also freedom from corruption.
Why are people in Finland so happy?
The top 10 have remained fairly stable over the last couple of years, with Finland still in first position. Denmark now follows closely in second position. Both these countries have populations less than 15 million.
Markedly, Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for seven years in a row.
The high levels of trust and freedom in its society are key contributors to Finnish happiness. Finland consistently ranks among the best in the world for transparency and the perceived lack of corruption. Finns tend to trust their neighbours, public officials, and their government. Furthermore, Finland has high levels of political, civil, and press freedom. Both individuals and institutions experience high levels of freedom. Feeling safe is essentially one of human beings’ primal needs.
According to the Finnish Happiness Institute study, when asking people living in Finland what makes them happy, Finns often mention proximity to nature and the opportunities it offers for recreation and relaxation. Clean water, unpolluted air, and unspoiled nature have a significant impact on overall wellbeing and happiness.
How does Santa fit into the picture?
Finland did not claim itself as Santa’s country of residence until 1927, when radio personality Markus Rautio declared Korvatunturi, a mountain in the Finnish far north, to be Santa’s home. His official postal address has since moved to Rovaniemi, a city just a couple of kilometres from the Arctic Circle, but these days Santa Claus offers a marketable face for Finnish tourism. During a typical winter, hundreds of thousands of European and Asian visitors flock to Finnish Lapland, with total overnight stays in the region surpassing three million.
Which factors contribute the most to your overall wellbeing and happiness?
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