"What makes me happy?" I ask this question of myself frequently. We all do. But what makes a happy country?
For the 4th year in a row, Finland topped a list of countries evaluated as the happiest country in the world. I've interacted with Finns because of my work with ReadyAI. Finland has one of the best free intro AI courses for adults. I've completed the course last year and learned a lot. Yes, it was all free. I urge you all to look at the World Happiness Report. The report uses data from interviews of more than 350,000 people in over 95 countries and conducted by the polling company Gallup. The actual rankings are not based on factors like income or life expectancy but on how people rate their own happiness on a 10-point scale. Questions in the report are fascinating and include: "Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?", "Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?" or "Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?" There are questions related to trust. Someone who thought the police or strangers were "very likely" to return his or her lost wallet had a much higher life evaluation score than someone who believed the opposite. Let me go back to Finland. It is an egalitarian society; people tend not to be fixated on "keeping up with the Joneses." People do pretty well in social comparison. And this starts from education; everybody has access to good education. Income and wealth differences are relatively small. Finns also tend to have realistic expectations for their lives. But when something in life does exceed expectations, people will often act with humility, preferring a self-deprecating joke over bragging... In fact, Finns are pros at keeping their happiness a secret. Once again, I urge you all to read the report. All of the countries ranked in the top 10 - including the four other Nordic countries - have different political philosophies than the US, No. 14 on the list, behind Ireland and Canada. Finland is far from perfect. Like many countries, far-right nationalism is on the rise, and unemployment is 8.1%, higher than the average unemployment rate of 7.5 percent in the EU. But there is a lot about the country that is indeed great. The country's public school system, which rarely tests kids, is among the best in the world. College is free. There is an excellent universal healthcare system, and child care is affordable. And the country has been one of the least impacted European countries by the pandemic, which is attributed to the high trust in government and little resistance to following restrictions. Yes, Trust... People trust each other. Each morning, it is common in Helsinki to see kids as young as seven walkings by themselves with their backpacks to school, feeling completely secure. That epitomizes Finnish happiness. There is something they've done right, and we can all learn from it.
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AuthorRoozbeh, born in Tehran - Iran (March 1984) Archives
April 2024
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