Why it’s Hard to be Happy about Finland’s “Happiness Streak”

Finland has just been awarded “Happiest Country in the World” for its sixth straight year and while I’m sure they are all marvelously joyful people, I for one would like to call for a full audit.

I guess anything is possible but that one country might dominate this title for six years running is a little problematic for the rest of us.

On behalf of less-than-happy countries let me just say that we can handle coming in the moderately-to-partially happy category. But I think I speak for the rest of the planet when I say it feels like a kind of happiness monopoly is going on. That the Finns seem to have a lock on happiness for the last half decade can only spell increasing unhappiness for the rest of us. In fact just writing this makes me feel like my numbers are dropping.

Actually the whole Happiest Country business reminds me of an old neighbor of mine. Judging by the constant traffic of cars and friends in his driveway you could have concluded his place was Happiness Central. Come summertime his backyard was a near constant barbeque party: Lights in the trees. Jovial people milling around lawn chairs. Laughter. Endless games of corn hole. This guy was Finland personified. If I had lived closer within earshot I most certainly would have been calling in a complaint or two.

But since the rest of the world can’t really phone in a complaint about the endless happiness party that seems to be Finland, I think we are at least entitled to a little clarification. Finland, to be blunt, really needs to explain their happiness.

Of course I’m sure the folks on the UN Committee will tell you there are established rules and criteria and all that. Longevity. Nice social supports I suppose. No ugly economic disparities between the haves and have-nots. “Sense of Fulfillment” (Yada, Yada, Yada).

Aside from all the statistical stuff, what I (and I’m guessing the rest of the world) are really struggling with is “Why Finland?”. I’m sure the folks there are quite charming and all. But isn’t this that smallish Nordic country frigidly positioned on the Arctic Circle? The one with 2:30 sunsets, record-long winters and that nice long border with Russia. The country that claims “family saunas” as the high water mark for favorite pastimes?

I suppose if there are deeper questions deserving immediate answers they might better be directed at the UN folks themselves. Beyond just having an innocent and friendly little Happiness contest, it seems that world leaders are more interested in promoting a new “Economic Paradigm.” (I wasn’t happy that I had to look this up.) Forget “Gross National Product”, the powers behind the curtain really want us to start thinking in terms of “Gross National Happiness”. Now I’m sure a lot of discussion went into this concept (and yes, it appears there is now officially a “GNH” Wikipedia page), but can I just say the whole thing feels a bit un-American. Changing the Happiness rules of the road from Consumption and Accumulation to something as nebulous as Well-Being feels too much like an unwinnable contest. (That the parameters of this Happiest Country vote are not being Gerrymandered in some way will really need to be defended.)

But maybe the real question the world wants to know is whether the Finns are genuinely experiencing a kind of rigorous, sustainable, boots-on-the-ground, nothing-can-burst-my-bubble kind of Happiness? I mean, if I sat down on a subway on a rain-drenched Monday morning commute in Helsinki, what sort of expressions would folks really be wearing? (For the record I’m sad to report that even their subways are highly-rated as safe, clean and reliable.)

Now I don’t know if this is the answer, but one tidbit of an explanation surfaced in an article I read recently. If there’s anything the Finns want the rest of the world to know, it is that they are quite surprised at their own international Happiness Streak. (In addition to being the Happiest, it seems they are also the Humblest.) However if there exists any kind of genetic superpower or secret sauce in Frigid Finland, the article reports, it might have something to do with the concept of “Sisu”. Now it may sadden (further) the non-Finns of the world that this is something of a unique and untranslatable word. But at best the Finns themselves describe it as a spirit of “Silent Relentlessness” or “Grim determination in the face of hardships”. Happiness apparently has more to do with contendedness and not complaining than endless barbeques.

Of course even International Happiness contests call for good sportsmanship. In the Spirit of Finland I will pledge to adopt my own brand of Sisu first thing in the New Year. And if the Finns win a 7th consecutive title I promise I will contain my grumbling.

Please just don’t expect me try the sauna thing anytime soon.