The Daily Populous Thursday March 20th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by p_pio

HELSINKI (AP) — Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

People walk past a monument to poet and writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) People walk past a monument to poet and writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook

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.

Aino Virolainen, a digital commerce director, has lived abroad but always wants to return home to Finland.

“This is where I always want to come back to and where I want to, you know, grow my kids and grow old myself,” Virolainen said Thursday. “And I think it’s because, you know, the peace and the quietness and the trustworthiness. You know, how we speak directly and the nature, of course. It’s clean and the air is fresh and what’s there not to love?”

AP AUDIO: Finland is again ranked the happiest country in the world. The US falls to its lowest-ever position AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Finland is again ranked the happiest country in the world, according to Thursday’s World Happiness Report.

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 U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

“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.”

Finnish final-year high school students paraded through downtown as part of the traditional annual Penkkarit in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Finnish final-year high school students paraded through downtown as part of the traditional annual Penkkarit in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook

Sharing meals and having somebody to count on

Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said.

People enjoy a sunny and frosty day after sweating in the sauna of the public bath in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) People enjoy a sunny and frosty day after sweating in the sauna of the public bath in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook

Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.

As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.

A man trying on a knitted hat with Finnish pattern on the Market Square in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) A man trying on a knitted hat with Finnish pattern on the Market Square in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook

Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.

Alexandra Peth, a managing director, said Finnish culture prioritizes trust and connection.

“People trust each other in Finland and I think on many levels in the society, we try to support each other,” Peth said. “So I think the system makes it kind of that you can trust it somehow.”

Overall, researchers said that global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.

The U.S. falls to its lowest-ever position in the happiness ranking

While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at sixth and 10th respectively.

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.

The United Kingdom, at position 23, is reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.

Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult.

Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking third from the bottom.

Almost one-fifth of young adults globally have no social support

In a concerning development, the study said that 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.

All countries are ranked according to their self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022 to 2024.

Experts in economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as gross domestic product per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

Jouni Purhonen, a Helsinki resident, called Finns “really calm.”

“So we have the time to think about things like live our life really peacefully and I guess easily, if you will,” Purhonen said.

EbonySaints on March 20th, 2025 at 11:30 UTC »

Frankly, the end of the article scares me more than the ranking itself:

> In a concerning development, the study said 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.

We already have one generation of people who are effectively islands unto themselves. The fact that the next generation is already starting off alone isn't going to bode well.

Also, Mexico being in #10 despite some of the horiffic things that happen there should raise some alarm bells on how the United States functions as a society. If you're less happy than the country below you that has active cartels with clandestine body disposal facilities, then you have a problem.

mbakalova on March 20th, 2025 at 11:04 UTC »

Finnish people have a lot of trust in their government and other public institutions, and trust in their communities in general. They provide access to strong public services like healthcare and education. Finland has a stable economy. And they value work-life balance, comfort, and well-being. It has been this way for a long time. It seems clear that other counties should follow suit

PopeSaintHilarius on March 20th, 2025 at 10:58 UTC »

Beyond the actual rankings, there's some good insights here, about what makes for a happy society:

> Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said.

> Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.

> As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population.

> Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.

> Overall, researchers said global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect.

> ...

> Experts in economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

It's a good reminder that a sense of community, personal relationships, and social solidarity add real value to people's lives.

I think that sometimes gets missed, when changes in society are evaluated almost solely by their implications for economics and efficiency. Those are important too, but they're not everything.