this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.

Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.

Nation Table

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (3 children)

US here.

I'm betting we'll be outright giddy this year compared to next year.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago

How shitty are things in India when...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'd move back to Europe and live there but I'm too worried about Russia.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Serbia winning big with largest increase.

Any Serbians able to weight in on why?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

As a finn, I can confirm I'm the happiest person in the world for the whole week it's sunny and doesn't rain during the summer!

Suomen kesä on kaunis ja vähäluminen.

Also, if you make it through the darkness of November alive, you must have built so much mental resiliency that rest of the year is walk in the park regardless of what happens.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There’s no way. It’s dark half the year and every Finnish people I met didn’t look happy at all, or at least they didn’t express it whatsoever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Well, when you are as happy and content as Finland, there is no dark.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I am American and can confirm I feel like this.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

meanwhile, in America...

"oooh, unhappiness? how dreadfully monetizeable!"

starts big pharma antidepressants corporation

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

The dining alone hits. The lack of community is palpable in corporate America.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Understandable, especially with what's going on here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I thought Finland and Nordic countries were notoriously depressed all winter??

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

that's just the loganberries talking.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

And Canada appears to have reduced happiness, I suspect due in part to our proximity to the USA.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The United States is still at 24th, where do they rank amongst first world countries?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

they kinda don't rank amongst 1st world countries

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Back in 1960, the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00

In 'Hell's Angels' Hunter Thompson had a chapter about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. Six months of a full time Union job as a stevedore paid enough for a biker to hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could afford to support herself and her musician boyfriend.

Of course people were happy here.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know what hilarious?

There's a sub minimum wage in America for people that earn tips (minimum of 30$ in tips a month), youths, and the disabled.

Sub minimum wage is a whopping 2.13$

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 2 days ago (2 children)

“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”

Damn that was very well said

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wealth is just the hoarding of imaginary credits representing the hours of other people's work.

"When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

Destruction of our society and pollution of our only Earth for paper strips.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

"They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them"

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Going out without worrying about getting robbed, killed, eating food that's gonna upset your tummy because someone neglected health regulations, slipping on a turd on the sidewalk someone deliberately didn't clean up after their dog, overpaying for stuff, getting fucked by the government (be it taxes, inflation, stupid rules).

Yet politicians getting paid in cold hard cash for approving overpriced shit so some wealthy fuck can fill his pockets even more.

We could constructing a Dyson sphere if it wasn't for fuckers that siphon the money that could be used to improve everyone's life.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Well, the taxes we have here in Denmark are quite high. We either have the fourth highest rate of tax compared to GDP or the highest, depending on which source you go by. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_tax_revenue_to_GDP_ratio

The thing is just that taxes means that the money gets spent directly on improving the lives of the people who live here, instead of people having to buy stuff like health care through companies that skim off the top, and who uses the money you pay them to employ people who try to find ways to not help you.

Taxes helps ensure that everything runs efficiently. A healthier population who are more productive, infrastructure that prevents disruptions to business and daily lives alike, and ensuring that people don't have to resort to crime if they lose their job or get ill. Crime is another source of inefficiency that gets significantly reduced.

Everything helps ensure that the average person is in a much better state of mind, and mood is contagious - even those who pay the most benefit off of it, and pretty much everyone here agrees that it's money well spent.

In Danish politics, even the right wing would be considered leftists in the US - we have a lot of political parties (16 in parliament, with 4 of them being from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland).

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My paternal grandparents were both Finnish immigrants. Do I have a path to citizenship? Please say yes, I would like to leave the 4th Reich as soon as possible.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

There are so few professional-level expatriates that processes are not well formed and bureocracy might hit you, but personally I welcome you here.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Oddly enough, our problem is that not enough good people are migrating in. But it's not trivial: https://www.infofinland.fi/en/moving-to-finland/non-eu-citizens

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Shoot, it sounds like they need to be living relatives. Ah well, have a sauna for me sometime. :(

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

https://www.infofinland.fi/en/moving-to-finland/non-eu-citizens/remigration-to-finland

”If you have Finnish ancestry or a close connection with Finland, you may be granted a residence permit in Finland on this basis. This means that you are considered a returnee (paluumuuttaja). Receiving a residence permit depends on the directness and closeness of your Finnish ancestry. No other reason, such as work or study, is required in order to receive the permit.”

Not an expert but I would imagine grandparents is considered pretty close and direct.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

... time to find out how much old paperwork the family has stashed away!

And win the lottery to afford moving costs, but one step at a time.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

If you find a job, and move here, you will gain permanent residency in 5-8 years. Jobs are listed here: https://www.workinfinland.com/en/open-jobs/

There is everything listed there.

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