<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Finnish journalist Carina Chela tells MailOnline why her home country may not be the happiest place on earth despite what a UN-backed report says
It’s that time of year again: gloomy weather and people slipping in the slush of Helsinki – and the seemingly inevitable confirmation that Finland is, once again, the happiest place on Earth. the planet.
For the seventh year in a row, Finland ranks first in the annual World Happiness Report, followed by its northern neighbors Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.
The statistics supporting this conclusion are based on the Gallup World Poll covering more than 140 countries.
No one is more skeptical than the Finns of the idea that we are the happiest people in the world.
Yes, we have income-based speeding fines and probably the highest concentration of metal bands in the world.
From average salary to suicide rates, here’s how Finland stacks up to the UK and US. Source OECD
But being the happiest seems a bit far-fetched.
Newly elected Finnish President Alexander Stubb shared on social media site X the reasons for his country’s success – primarily nature, trust and nurture.
But then he would say that, having an unusually optimistic personality and a boringly positive approach to life and everything.
Reluctantly, I have to agree with him on all three issues, but only to a certain extent.
In fact, we love our reputation for having the best education system, but let’s also be clear that the latest PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) results reveal that Finland’s performance has collapsed even though it remains at the -above average.
A sustainable and strong economy? Not really.
In less than three months, Finland has experienced two major political strikes affecting many sectors of the economy, and the government and unions are still unable to negotiate a successful outcome.
And let’s not forget that Finland had one of the highest suicide rates in the world thanks to alcohol abuse and antidepressants.
Today, the suicide rate has been cut in half, but it remains slightly higher than the European average.
For some reason, Finnish youth are no longer able to follow in the drunken footsteps of previous generations.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased our sense of insecurity. We even joined NATO.
Your browser does not support iframes.
Your browser does not support iframes.
The 1,340-kilometre-long border with our pesky expansionist neighbor is currently closed because the Kremlin wiseguys have decided to start funneling migrants to the border.
This is quite annoying for all the businesses near the border that depended on Russian tourism.
So I would say that Finland is certainly not among the unhappiest countries in the world, but we still have some work to do before the average Pekka will agree with the UN-sponsored happiness report.
However, if and when Russia loses the war in Ukraine and is forced to withdraw, its tail firmly between the faltering legs of imperialism, then we would certainly be very happy about that.
So happy, in fact, that the happy results for the next ten or twenty years would be a foregone conclusion.