American Reporter Seeks Unhappy Finns

  HELSINKI, Finland – I arrived in this under-the-radar Scandinavian country sandwiched between Sweden and Russia on an unusual mission: Looking for miserable people.

  There’s a perfectly sound reason for this odd quest. For seven years running, Finland has been voted the happiest country in the world. Article after article have boasted the fact.

  Personally, I’m thinking a state of 24/7 national contentment is not possible. Not just in Finland but anywhere.

  Still, there has to be a reason this “Land of a Thousand Lakes” – actually, there are 187,888 of them – is No. 1 year-after-year.   According to my pre-trip research, the main argument for this being the ultimate Happyland is the country’s social services net that covers – and comforts - every citizen from cradle to grave, literally.

  With each birth, every family receives a government package known as the “baby box.” Inside is a starter kit of sorts: diapers, clothing and the like. The bigger perk is the nine-month, paid maternity leave for mothers and a similarly generous break for their partners. Throughout their lives, every Finn receives free medical and dental care. College is also covered. Generous subsidies are available to help ease various financial issues facing struggling Finns. For instance, you’re a family of five and want to take a vacation but can’t afford it. No worries, Uncle Finn has you covered.

  In their senior years, Finns don’t have to fret that assisted care facilities or home health services will bleed their savings, as happens in the U.S. Yep, the government has their backs.

  So, yeah, I can see where that would make people here feeling pretty good about their lives.

Where's the Sun? 

  However, in my pre-conceived view, I have a single reason why it’s impossible to be continuously happy living in Finland: For half the year, it’s dark much of the day – and freezing.

  An imaginary conversation between two Finnish pals:

Eino: I saw the sun today.

Jari: Really? Damn, I missed it.

Eino: I heard it’s coming out again in three weeks.

Jari: Great. I’ll put it in my calendar.

  In scenic Helsinki, on the Baltic Sea, if you judge bliss by smiling faces and outgoing personalities, Finland wouldn’t qualify for honorable mention on the happy places list. The streets, markets and cafes are crowded during what is considered late summer here, where nearly one in three Finns live. The mood is surprisingly subdued, underscored by a language that has a soft, quiet lilt and personalities that even Finns will admit are generally reserved. I’ve been in funeral homes that were noisier.

  But, candidly, that’s pretty much the northern European stereotype, in particular Scandinavians, where stoicism is seemingly a birthright. Or maybe chill is a better description.

  By contrast, head south to Spain, Italy or Greece and everyone is hugging and kissing everyone and talking loudly all at once. It doesn’t mean they’re happy, but at least you know how they’re feeling.

  I wouldn’t want to play poker with a Finn: “Call, dammit!”

  At an outdoor take-out joint I brought up Finland’s happy ranking with Janne Wickman, who can track his family’s Helsinki roots back eight generations and whose great-grandfather has a bridge named for him.

  “I’ve often wondered about that,” he said. “How happy can a country be that has 600,000 people on antidepressants?”

  Actually, the number is 425,000, according to Statista, a German data-gathering organization. Still, in a population of 5 million it’s a big number – 11th in the world on Statista’s list as of 2022.

  Many of the Uber drivers in Helsinki are immigrants. Apparently, they were not part of the Happiest Nation poll. I spoke with two of them.

  Guyem, Turkey, here six years: “When I first came here it was so hard for me. It was winter. So dark. So cold. No friends.”

  Mart, Estonia, 15 years: “I hate the winter. I never get used to it. We get two months of summer. That’s it. Who decides this happy country business?”

  That’s an excellent question.

  As it turns out, there’s an organization called the World Happiness Report [WHR], which is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the WHR’s Editorial Board. You can guess what their mission is; it’s too sappy to repeat. Every March, around – I’m not making this up – International Day of Happiness on the 20th – the group meets to analyze Gallup’s polling numbers and decide who’s number one. [Apparently, there’s no second happiest country.]

  I’m trying to imagine the last seven Zoom meetings:

WHR chair: Who you got this year?

All in unison: Finland.

WHR chair: We have a winner.

Additional Positives

  There are other pluses living here. It’s clean. Public transportation is excellent. Everything runs on time.

But nothing is free. Taxes are exceptionally high. And it’s expensive. Gas, for instance, runs $8 a gallon. There are lots of electric vehicles.

  Finland is one of the world’s safer countries. There were 57 homicides last year in the entire country; 14 percent of them were committed with firearms. [Rochester, N.Y. had 58. Population: 209,599]

  Saunas are a way of life. There are 3 million in use, more than one for every two people. Thirty minutes of dry heat, a dip in the pool and it’s, “Bring it on, world!” That would make me happy.

  Yes, it’s freezing in the dark season and there’s a ton of snow, but the Finns are among the world’s most active outdoor populations. In winter, no matter the temperature, cross country ski and snowmobile trails are crowded. Resorts in Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle, are sold out in winter, not summer.

  So maybe there is something to this happiness thing, just not in ways in which we outsiders can imagine.

  As I passed through security at Helsinki Airport the other night at 2 a.m., I was stopped by a police officer. Erikka was pleasant in her interrogation so when she finished, I asked her about Finland’s lofty ranking.

  “Do I look happy to you working the night shift?” she asked, not unkindly.

  Then, more thoughtfully, she ticked off all the aforementioned perks of being a Finn.

  “So, you could say that counts for a lot.”

  In recent months, some troubling news has emerged. Like many countries in the developing world, Finland’s birth rate has dropped in a big way. It’s last in this region. The result is fewer tax dollars to support the country’s costly social services system.

  A word from the politicians on the matter, issued in April: “The objective of the government is to safeguard the welfare society and its vital services for present and future generations alike. Finland must continue to be a country that provides high-quality education, well-functioning health services and care for anyone who needs it.”

  Translation: “We gotta go for eight in a row.”

Editor’s note: First in a series from a reporting trip to Finland August 2-6, 2024

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Reported and written by: George J. Tanber

Edited by: Michael Gordon

Photo editor: David Kozy