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.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

How is Israel even in the top ten? They are truly detached from reality.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you didn't put Israel in top ten, it would be considered anti Semitic

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

The methodology is flawed.
They do ask people how happy they are, but most of the score is from other factors, like GDP, income equality, personal freedoms, etc.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's definetly a flawed methodology. It implies the certain qualities have the same importance to cultures worldwide. I'm born in Scotland but ethnically Punjabi. I go pakistan and i see extreme poverty and struggle, yet I speak and live with people of different classes and it's often those who are poor but with community who are happiest (something similar applies to many nations I've been) not to say wealth wouldn't make them happier or live longer, but our current capitalist system is a disease that very very few nations were able to effectively control so that the society benefits (gulf Arabs, Singapore and Nordics) but generally wealth doesn't make a nation happier unless it's somewhat fairly distributed

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm convinced Finns have just found a way to troll this somehow. Not that Finland isn't great and all, but it just makes more sense.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

According to the other comments, they ask "How are you?" ans the response is "eVeRyThInG Is gReAt" and this gets written down as a 5/5 on the happiness scale.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

No, it's because things are all things considered pretty good here, so people say "can't complain". Things overall are pretty good. Some understand happiness as being giddy about life but what this ranking more about is how content you're with your life and when things are overall alright, it's easy to be content.

The happiness thing is misleading since what it means varies a lot culture to culture.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

"I used to be happier like you. Then I took a Trump in the knee..."

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Finland isnt ”happy” but less miserable than other countries. Though our current gov is cutting from the poor and education etc to make economy numbers look better. Worse times are coming.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Dining alone makes me happy.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

Understandable, especially with what's going on here.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

I am American and can confirm I feel like this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (117 children)

As a Finn, I'd like to remind you this is 50% bullshit.

They go around asking people how they are and in Finnish culture, you're not allowed to complain, and our society sees to it that we give even substance abusers and drunks rent money, so people answer "can't complain".

Finnish people are emotionally stunted and don't even understand the concept of happiness.

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