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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[–] major_briggs@lemmy.world 11 points 19 hours ago

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

[–] AlienContact2049@lemmy.ca 19 points 23 hours ago

The US shot itself in the foot and now it's pointed at it's face.

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

One of the problems with America is if you ask people on the street who's the happiest country in the world, a good chunk will answer America and not believe this result. I've always said the problem with being #1 (or thinking you are) is that you don't work very hard to improve.

One metric America leads the world in: self-delusion regarding its own performance in every area. How many people say America leads in math, science, health? Don't get me wrong, in a lot of categories the US is top 20, but very few where we actually are #1. Until this attitude is fixed, we're not going to see real improvement. RAH RAH RAH USA #1 is nice to whip up a crowd at a rally, but it's not good for positive ongoing change.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago

That Pledge of Allegiance shit really worked.

[–] OCATMBBL@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

This is a helpful way to break down Nationalism vs Patriotism. Nationalism being a delusional belief that we are the best, and Patriotism being a love for your country and fellow citizen and striving to be the best.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] Shezzagrad@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] superkret@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] Shezzagrad@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 day 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

[–] pleksi@sopuli.xyz 2 points 20 hours ago

I actually got a call from the survey these are based on. While i dont know how they compile the answers into a score, i felt the questions were quite relevant.

Also, i feel finns score high because we are culturally modest people who enjoy the simple things in life. Are we physiologically experiencing more happiness than others? Maybe not. But we propably score high on measurements of how content people say they are. ”Cant compain”

[–] UrbonMaximus@feddit.uk 2 points 18 hours ago

I think you misunderstood how the report works. The rankings are from people answering the poll using cantril ladder scoring. Then academics try to look at different statistics in that country to try to explain why people gave their country that score. The academics don't score the countries.

[–] djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Well the Israelis are definitely really happy.

[–] Lootboblin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

How shitty are things in India when...

[–] Azal@pawb.social 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

US here.

I'm betting we'll be outright giddy this year compared to next year.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 21 points 1 day ago

I don't think so. Next year being sad will be illegal.

[–] b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What you don’t want to live in a Christo-fascist dictatorship with no eggs, and lots of measles, where you get sent to Guantanamo Bay for not retweeting Elon Musk’s or Trump’s latest Nazi rant?

[–] Azal@pawb.social 2 points 9 hours ago

I'd like to remind we're only 3 months in and that's the scenario we're looking at.

I don't have the imagination for what the country will look like by December.

[–] ouch@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

As a finn, I can confirm I'm the happiest person in the world for the whole week it's sunny and doesn't rain during the summer!

Suomen kesä on kaunis ja vähäluminen.

Also, if you make it through the darkness of November alive, you must have built so much mental resiliency that rest of the year is walk in the park regardless of what happens.

[–] arakhis_@feddit.org 84 points 1 day ago (2 children)

“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.”

Damn that was very well said

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wealth is just the hoarding of imaginary credits representing the hours of other people's work.

"When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

Destruction of our society and pollution of our only Earth for paper strips.

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[–] derpgon@programming.dev 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Going out without worrying about getting robbed, killed, eating food that's gonna upset your tummy because someone neglected health regulations, slipping on a turd on the sidewalk someone deliberately didn't clean up after their dog, overpaying for stuff, getting fucked by the government (be it taxes, inflation, stupid rules).

Yet politicians getting paid in cold hard cash for approving overpriced shit so some wealthy fuck can fill his pockets even more.

We could constructing a Dyson sphere if it wasn't for fuckers that siphon the money that could be used to improve everyone's life.

[–] Ragnor@feddit.dk 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Well, the taxes we have here in Denmark are quite high. We either have the fourth highest rate of tax compared to GDP or the highest, depending on which source you go by. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_tax_revenue_to_GDP_ratio

The thing is just that taxes means that the money gets spent directly on improving the lives of the people who live here, instead of people having to buy stuff like health care through companies that skim off the top, and who uses the money you pay them to employ people who try to find ways to not help you.

Taxes helps ensure that everything runs efficiently. A healthier population who are more productive, infrastructure that prevents disruptions to business and daily lives alike, and ensuring that people don't have to resort to crime if they lose their job or get ill. Crime is another source of inefficiency that gets significantly reduced.

Everything helps ensure that the average person is in a much better state of mind, and mood is contagious - even those who pay the most benefit off of it, and pretty much everyone here agrees that it's money well spent.

In Danish politics, even the right wing would be considered leftists in the US - we have a lot of political parties (16 in parliament, with 4 of them being from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland).

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 1 points 4 hours ago

I'd gladly pay more taxes if it meant improving the wellbeing of overyone. The right (as we called it) would be considered left a decade ago as well (today, not sso much).

So jealous of those whose government isn't a piece of shit good-for-nothing bunch of scum.

[–] muxika@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

American here. I would love to visit your country someday. More Americans need to see what a better way of life looks like.

[–] allo@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

meanwhile, in America...

"oooh, unhappiness? how dreadfully monetizeable!"

starts big pharma antidepressants corporation

[–] helpmyusernamewontfi@lemmy.today 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Not that hard, just got to look up how Crassus did it.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 59 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Back in 1960, the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00

In 'Hell's Angels' Hunter Thompson had a chapter about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. Six months of a full time Union job as a stevedore paid enough for a biker to hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could afford to support herself and her musician boyfriend.

Of course people were happy here.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know what hilarious?

There's a sub minimum wage in America for people that earn tips (minimum of 30$ in tips a month), youths, and the disabled.

Sub minimum wage is a whopping 2.13$

[–] muxika@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

That is the sickest thing, and the major reason tipping is such a problem in the States. Honestly, any establishment that runs on this sub-minimum wage platform deserves to go under. Next to prison labor and immigrant labor, this is the most demeaning way to live.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

The dining alone hits. The lack of community is palpable in corporate America.

[–] MacStache@sopuli.xyz 53 points 2 days ago (12 children)

We are the happiest because we don't give a fuck. Today I took my bike to work and slipped on some ice. Hurt my back a bit. What I did was yell "PERKELE!" and just go on my merry way. Work was shit but what can you do.

Best day of my life.

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[–] Krik@lemmy.dbzer0.com 181 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Can relate. Am I secretly a Finlandian?

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[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 206 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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