Happiness lasts in Finland. The country has once again won the position of happiest nation in the world, for the seventh consecutive year, according to the world happiness report published this Wednesday, March 20, and sponsored by the UN. This indicator, unveiled every year since 2012, is based on people’s assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data on six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and the absence of corruption.
So what is Finland’s secret? “Proximity to nature and a good work-life balance are the key to Finnish satisfaction,” according to Jennifer De Paola, researcher specializing in this topic at the University of Helsinki. Finns may have a “more accessible understanding of what a successful life is”, compared for example to the United States where success is often associated with financial gains, she adds. Trust in institutions, low corruption and free access to healthcare and education are also essential. “Finnish society is imbued with a feeling of trust, freedom and a high level of autonomy,” concludes the researcher.
The happy rise of Eastern countries
Following Finland, other Nordic countries such as Denmark, Iceland and Sweden top the top ten places. France is 27th. For the first time in more than 10 years, the United States and Germany do not appear among the 20 happiest nations, arriving in 23rd and 24th place: they are falling in the ranking in the face of the rise of the countries of Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovenia, but also Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia. Costa Rica and Kuwait also enter the top 20 in twelfth and thirteenth position. None of the most populous countries in the world are among the top twenty countries.
At the other end of the ranking, Afghanistan, in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban’s return to power in 2020, occupies last place of 143 countries. The biggest declines in the happiness index since the period 2006-2010 concern Afghanistan, Lebanon and Jordan.
Young people and men, generally happier
The annual report highlights a stronger sense of happiness among younger generations than older ones in most, but not all, regions. Thus the index has fallen dramatically since 2006-2010 among those under 30 in North America, Australia and New Zealand and is now lower than the oldest in these regions. In Europe too, several countries are concerned: Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain are countries where “old people are now considerably happier than young people”, notes the report , “while Portugal or Greece shows an opposite pattern”.
The report also highlights gender inequality in all regions of the world. In 2021-2023, “negative emotions were in all regions more prevalent among women than among men.” Almost everywhere, the gender gap is larger at older ages.