Finland comes in as happiest country in the world for the second time in a row. With the spectacular Northern Lights and an all year round Santa Claus, Finland has a lot to celebrate.
According to the latest World Happiness Report 2019, Finland is first followed by; Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and The Netherlands.
The report was released on March 20 by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. The report ranks based on six key variables: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support, and generosity.
“The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of well-being,” says report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor at the University of British Columbia.
And this is not just for the native-born residents of the countries. It also added that not only were the Finn residents happy, but their immigrants were also happiest in the world.
“It’s not about Finnish DNA. It’s the way life is lived in those countries.” says Helliwell.
The residents pay high taxes for social safety, they trust the government, they live in freedom and are very generous with each other. “They do care about each other,” he says. “That’s the kind of place people want to live.”
The differences between the top eight countries are so small, that the top 5 often collide every year. The sixth place came in Switzerland, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, and Austria.
Although, these countries are in the top ten happiest countries. It still doesn’t protect them from violence or trauma. The recent Christchurch mosque attack is proof of that. However, the response from the New Zealand people after the attack shows a lot.
New Zealand came in eight place, same as last year.
“What stands out about the happiest and most well-connected societies is their resilience and ability to deal with bad things,” says Helliwell. “After the 2011 earthquake and now the terrorist attack in Christchurch, people rally and help each other and rebuild immediately.”
