Why is Finland the happiest country on earth? The answer is complicated.

The Bright Side is a series on how optimism works in our minds and affects the world around us.

On March 20, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network released its annual report World Happiness Report, assessing the level of happiness in countries around the world. For the sixth year in a row, Finland is ranked at the top of the table.

But the Finns themselves say that the rankings point to a more complicated reality.

“I wouldn’t say I find us very happy,” said Nina Hansen, 58, a high school English teacher from Kokkola, a mid-sized city on the west coast of Finland. “Actually, I’m a bit skeptical about that word.”

Ms. Hansen was one of more than a dozen Finns we spoke with – including an immigrant from Zimbabwe, a folk violinist, a former Olympic athlete and a dairy farmer who had retirement – about the things that supposedly make Finland very happy. Our subjects ranged in age from 13 to 88 and represented a wide range of genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, and occupations. They come from Kokkola as well as the capital Helsinki; Turku, a city on the southwest coast; and three villages in the south, east and west of Finland.

While people praise Finland’s strong social safety net and talk excitedly about the psychological benefits of nature and the personal pleasures of sport or music, they also talk about guilt, worried and lonely. Instead of “happy”, they were more likely to describe Finns as “quite gloomy”, “a bit moody” or unnecessarily disliking to laugh.

Many also share concerns about threats to their lifestyle, including the benefits that can be achieved by far-right party in the country’s elections, the war in ukraine and tense relations with Russia, which could worsen as Finland prepares join NATO.

It turns out that even the happiest people in the world are not so happy. But they are more like content.

Arto O. Salonen, a professor at the University of Eastern Finland who has studied happiness in Finnish society, explains: Finns are satisfied with sustainable living and consider financial success to be a defining ability. identify and meet basic needs. “In other words,” he wrote in an email, “when you know what is enough, you will be happy.”

The artistic couple is grateful for the safety net

“’Happiness’ is sometimes a gentle word and is used as if it were just a smile on the face,” says Teemu Kiiski, managing director of Finnish Design Shop. “But I think this Nordic happiness is something more fundamental.”

Mr. Kiiski, 47, who lives in Turku, says the high quality of life in Finland is deeply rooted in the nation’s welfare system. “It makes people feel safe and secure, not left out in society.”

Public funding of education and the arts, including individual grants to artists, gives the likes of his wife, Hertta, a multimedia artist, the freedom to pursue their creative passions. . “It also affects the kind of work we do, because we don’t have to think about the commercial value of art,” says Ms. Kiiski, 49. “So what many of the artists here do is very experimental.”

Advocates struggle to be heard

As a Black person in Finland – where more than 90% is white – Jani Toivola, 45, has spent most of her life feeling isolated. “I think, as a black gay man in Finland, you still often feel that you are the only person in the room,” Mr. Toivola said. His father, Kenyan, has been absent for most of his life, and Toivola, whose mother is white, has struggled to find Black role models he can identify with. have a cold.

In 2011, he became first black member of the Finnish Parliament, where he helped lead the struggle for legalize same-sex marriage.

After two terms, Toivola left politics to pursue acting, dancing and writing. He currently lives in Helsinki with his husband and daughter and continues to support LGBTQ rights in Finland. “As a gay man, I still think watching my daughter grow up is a miracle,” he said.

Teenagers grow up to be satisfied

Conventional wisdom is that it is easier to be happy in a country like Finland, where the government ensures a secure foundation on which to build a fulfilling life and a promising future. But that expectation can also create pressure to live up to national reputation.

Clara Paasimaki, 19, one of Ms Hansen’s students in Kokkola, said: “We are honored and we know our privilege, so we are also afraid to say that we are not satisfied with any whatever, because we know we have it. much better than others, especially in countries outside the Nordic countries.

Frank Martela, a psychology researcher at Aalto University, agrees with Ms. Paasimaki’s assessment. “The fact that Finland has been the ‘happiest country in the world’ for six years in a row can start to put pressure on people,” he wrote in an email. “If we Finns are all so happy, why am I not?”

In that sense, falling to the second-happiest country position could be good for Finland’s long-term happiness, he continued.

The Finnish way of life is summed up in “sisu”, a trait believed to be part of the national identity. The word roughly translates to “gritty determination in the face of hardship,” such as the country’s long winters: Even in adversity, Finns are expected to persevere, not to complain.

Matias From, 18, Paasimaki’s classmate, said: ‘In the past, it was not easy to survive the winter, everyone struggled, and that has been passed down through generations. . Our grandparents were like that. Be tough and don’t worry about everything. Just live life.”

Since immigating from Zimbabwe in 1992, Julia Wilson-Hangasmaa, 59, has appreciated the freedom Finland gives people to pursue their dreams without having to worry about meeting requirements. basic demand. A retired teacher, she now runs her own recruitment and consulting firm in Vaaksy, a village northeast of Helsinki.

But she has also seen a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, exacerbated by migration crisis 2015and worry about the sustainability of the high quality of life in Finland. “If we have a ‘Finnish for Finns’ attitude, who will take care of us when we are old?” she said, referring to a popular right-wing slogan. “Who will drive the food truck to the supermarket so you can go shopping?”

When she returns to her hometown, she is drawn to the “good energy” that comes not from sisu’s satisfaction but from extreme joy.

“What I miss most, I realized when I arrived in Zimbabwe, were the smiles,” she said, among “people who didn’t have much wealth by Western standards, but were rich in spirit.”

Tuomo Puutio, 74, started working at the age of 15 and supported his family for decades by raising cattle and dairy cows. Thanks to Finland’s school system, which includes music education for all children, his daughter Marjukka, 47, has been able to pursue her dreams of a musical career outside of their village. “You have the opportunity to be a cellist, even if you are the daughter of a farmer,” she said.

Music is a source of happiness for many Finns, many of whom sing in choirs, learn musical instruments or attend regular concerts, especially during the country’s long and dark winters. . But Ms. Puutio worries that these opportunities may not be for future generations: Finland will hold parliamentary elections on April 2, and the far-right Finnish Party, which won the second-highest number of seats in 2019, promised to cut funding. for the arts if it secures a majority coalition this year.

Ms. Puutio, who now runs an orchestra, said: “Music, which I am passionate about, creates a mindset that allows you to face your inner emotions and fears. “It touches the parts of our souls that we can’t reach. And that will have a lasting effect on people’s lives, if these experiences are taken away from us.”

Many of our audiences consider the abundance of nature to be important to Finland’s happiness: Almost 75% of Finland is covered by forests and all are open to all by a law called “jokamiehen oikeudet” or “everyone is right,” allowing people to move freely in any natural area, on public or private land.

Helina Marjamaa, 66, a former track and field athlete who represented the country at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games, said: “I like the peace and movement in nature. “That’s where I get my strength. Birds are singing, snow is melting and nature is coming to life. It is unbelievably beautiful.”

Her daughter Mimmi, a dance teacher and certified sex therapist, was recently engaged to her girlfriend. Mimmi, 36, said she is encouraged by the greater openness and understanding of gender and sexuality she sees in the next generation.

“A lot of teenagers have presented themselves as they are,” she said. As adults, “we need to encourage that.”

Violinists fear planet warming

Finland’s natural treasures, about a third of which are located on the Arctic Circle, are especially vulnerable to the impact of the climate crisis. Like Mrs. Puutio, Tuomas Rounakari, 46, is the most famous composer in Finland as a former member of a folk metal band. Korpiklaaniconcerns about the growing popularity of groups such as the Finnish Party and climate change policy they won.

Global capitalism is still leading the game. To me, all of this is alarming.

Tuomas Rounakari

“I’m concerned with the level of ignorance we have about our own environment,” he said, citing endangered species and climate change. The threat “still doesn’t seem to change political thinking,” he said.

The reason for optimism may be personal. For the Hukari family, that reason is badminton.

A sports facility in the rural community of Toholampi has enabled Henna, 16, and Niklas, 13, to compete at European level, bringing them to new venues and players from across the continent. The game gave teenagers a satisfying hobby in a remote area, and their parents, Lasse and Marika, were optimistic about their children’s future.

Mr. Hukari, 49, hopes that with time, the children will fully grasp the opportunities they get from badminton. “Now, they may not understand what they have, but when they are my age, I know they will,” he said.

Born 17 years after Finland gained independence from Russia, Eeva Valtonen has seen her homeland transform: from the devastation of World War II over the years of rebuilding into a nation seen as iconic. model for the world.

Ms. Valtonen, 88, says: “My mother used to say, ‘Remember, the luck in life is in your work, and in everything you do, do it well.’” Ms. Valtonen, 88, speak. “I think Finns are like that. Everyone did everything together and helped each other.”

Her granddaughter, Ruut Eerikainen, 29, was surprised to see that Finland now ranks as the happiest place on earth. “Honestly, the Finns don’t seem very happy,” she said. “It’s very dark outside, and we can be pretty bleak.”

Perhaps not because Finns are much happier than others. Maybe it’s their satisfaction expectations that are more reasonable, and if they aren’t met, in the spirit of sisu, they persist.

“We are not complaining,” Ms. Eerikainen said. “We just do.”