U.S. hits new low in World Happiness Report

Some years ago I moved back to Finland (#1) after several years in the US (now at #24).

While the quality of life really is objectively better with children, the secret to these rankings is probably the calibration inherent in the question. Finnish people just don’t have high expectations. Every positive development is a welcome surprise.

Americans are primed to want it all and seem to constantly compare themselves against unachievable standards on social media. “The American Dream” is more illusionary than ever. Everybody is a temporarily inconvenienced billionaire. This can be positive when it produces a drive that builds things, but it seems to mostly produce unhappiness right now because it’s so out of balance.

> Finnish people just don’t have high expectations. Every positive development is a welcome surprise.

You’re just covering up the real truth: Finnish happiness is a result of everyone having access to a sauna :)

Mina rakastan löyly, haluan saunassa nyt!

(What I hope I said: ‘I love throwing water on the sauna rocks and the experience of the resulting steam, I want to go into a sauna now’)

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On a more serious note, do you think the ever present threat of Russia and obligatory military service affects the expectations of Finnish people? Meaning, there is an actual tangible threat bordering Finland, which last invaded just 86 years ago (and forced Finland to ally with a country we won’t name so they would emerge from WWII independent, only Norway and Finland managed to achieve that, every other European country bordering the USSR was behind the iron curtain)

Do you think that keeps Finnish people’s expectations more grounded? Or is it something else entirely?