In Finland, a relatively egalitarian society, people do not tend to ‘stick with the Joneses’.
“People often do quite well in social comparison,” said Antti Kauppinen, a philosophy professor at the University of Helsinki. “It starts with education; everyone has access to good education. Income and wealth differences are relatively small. ”
David Pfister, an Austrian architect living in Oulunkyla, a suburb of Helsinki, said he would describe Finns as content, but that it was difficult to say whether they were happy. “The baby increased our happiness,” said his wife, a teacher, Veera Yliniemi. Another man in the same suburb, Janne Berliini, 49, said he was lucky enough. “I have a job,” he said. “The basics are in order.”
People in Finland also tend to have realistic expectations for their lives. But if something in life does exceed expectations, people will often act with humility and prefer a funny joke rather than bragging, said Sari Poyhonen, a professor of linguistics at the University of Jyvaskyla. Finns, according to her, intend to keep their happiness a secret.
The report received little attention in the Finnish news media this year. “Finland is still the happiest country in the world,” began a short article on page 19 of Ilta-Sanomat, a daily newspaper.
All the countries that were in the top 10, including the four other Nordic countries, have different political philosophies than in the United States, number 14 on the list, behind Ireland and ahead of Canada. Lower levels of happiness in the United States may be driven by social conflict, drug addiction, lack of access to health care, and income inequality, Drs. Wang said.
Things in Finland are far from perfect. Like other parts of the continent, far-right nationalism is increasing, and unemployment is 8.1 percent, higher than the average unemployment rate of 7.5 percent in the European Union.