Why Finland is the happiest country in the world — Transcript

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1. 0:00Finland has been declared the happiest country in the world
2. 0:02for the seventh time in a row. What makes the Finns so happy?
3. 0:06Saunas. Saunas make people happy.
4. 0:08The people are nice and kind and they help  each other. I think that's our strength.
5. 0:13It's safe to live here.
6. 0:15Finnish people are just kind of casual and  they don't take things so seriously maybe.
7. 0:20What is so special about Finnish lifestyle?
8. 0:22It's called "Sisu".
9. 0:23Sisu.
10. 0:24Sisu.
11. 0:25What is Sisu? What does it have  to do with Finnish happiness? And:
12. 0:30What can we learn from the Finns in order to live a happier life?
13. 0:33I traveled to the Finnish capital of Helsinki to find out.
14. 0:38Around five and half million people live
15. 0:40in Finland, in the north of Europe. The country is known for its many lakes
16. 0:44and forests, sauna culture, the northern  lights - and: a veeeery long winter.
17. 0:51North of the polar circle, the sun won't  come out for several days or even weeks.
18. 0:56So, how can Finland be the  happiest country in the world?
19. 1:00Finland tops the list of the  World Happiness Report 2024,
20. 1:03while my country, Germany, is "only"  ranked 24th. Just behind the US at 23.
21. 1:09It seems, my happiness could use a  boost. That's why I'm meeting three
22. 1:13happiness ambassadors. They were hired by the  Finnish tourism board "Visit Finland" for a
23. 1:18PR campaign. I'm interested in learning  more about Finnish happiness from them.
24. 1:23My first mentor of the day is Lena Salmi.
25. 1:26Hi, I'm Lena.
26. 1:28The former sports journalist is  still very active at the age of 70.
27. 1:33Besides swimming and bouldering, she  loves graffiti, riding her scooter and
28. 1:37skateboarding - a passion she discovered in her early sixities.
29. 1:41Can skateboarding make me happy too?
30. 1:43So, safety first.
31. 1:46So, first up is skateboarding. I used to skate  when I was 15 or 16 but I haven't done it for
32. 1:52quite a while, so let's see if I can do it. First, Lena reminds me of the basics.
33. 2:02And I learn some new tricks as well.
34. 2:13Then, how to get street credibility.
35. 2:17Ok, street credibility?
36. 2:30Not yet, not yet...
37. 2:31It is not about your skills, it's about your will.
38. 2:36One guy once said, that he's not the best  skater in the world but the happiest one.
39. 2:43That's a good point in my opinion.
40. 2:52What is your tip for other people to live a happier life?
41. 2:56Don't care what others think.
42. 2:59Just do things that you're interested in doing. And if it doesn't work, who cares?
43. 3:06Try another one. But don't - especially when you're a little bit older -
44. 3:12don't stay at your home sitting on the sofa. Get out, go out!
45. 3:19It was a pleasure meeting you.
46. 3:21Thank you so much for having me  and see you next time. Bye bye. Have a good day.
47. 3:28The United Nations' World Happiness  Report uses interviews to determine how
48. 3:32happy people are in different countries.  General life circumstances as well as
49. 3:40positive and negative emotions  are decisive for the ranking.
50. 3:46Finland scores particularly well for its good  living conditions: Most Finns have a decent
51. 3:50income, and benefit from a strong social  system, high degrees of freedom and little
52. 3:55corruption. Furthermore, there's a high level  of trust in institutions and the government.
53. 4:03Denmark and Iceland follow in 2nd and 3rd place,
54. 4:06while Afghanistan ranks 143rd,  at the very bottom of the list.
55. 4:12But there are also other  criteria to measure happiness,
56. 4:14as happiness researcher Frank Martela points out.
57. 4:20Sometimes when we think about happiness,  we think of it more in terms of positive
58. 4:23feelings and emotions. Like joyfulness,
59. 4:26laughter and smiling and stuff like that. And international surveys about these kinds
60. 4:31of emotions, it has turned out that  Finland is not the happiest country,
61. 4:35that actually central American countries tend  to perform very well on this kind of surveys and
62. 4:39Finland is only 14th or something like that. One thing, you know, about Finland is:
63. 4:45The reason for such a high average level of  happiness it's not because there are the most
64. 4:50extremely happy people in Finland but it's more  like the government is able to take care of you,
65. 4:55there are less unhappy people in the country. So the government can't make citizens happy
66. 4:59but the government can remove quite many  sources of unhappiness. And that's what I
67. 5:03think is the secret to Finnish happiness.
68. 5:06Let's see if Finnish design can make me happy.
69. 5:09I'm on my way to meet happiness  ambassador number 2, Tero Kuitunen.
70. 5:15Art was never my strong suit at school...But as I  learned from Lena, it's mainly about having fun.
71. 5:23Tero, what are we about to do now?
72. 5:25We're actually going to do these ceramic sausages.
73. 5:27So, this is one of my most popular products.
74. 5:30I've got to warn you, I'm a little bit clumsy.
75. 5:33Don't worry, I think we will survive.
76. 5:37Tero is one of a total of five Finnish happiness  ambassadors, so called "Happiness Hackers". They
77. 5:42are supposed to give insights into the Finnish  lifestyle, each of them in their own profession.
78. 5:51Design is highly valued in Finland. For Tero,
79. 5:53his work as a designer is about more  than just aesthetics and functionality.
80. 6:01What I love in ceramic is also that it is kind of  meditative. So, you really like to focus on it,
81. 6:05you don't think of anything else, you're not  online, you're not watching the news or thinking
82. 6:11what is happening. You're just focusing the one thing you're doing with your hands,
83. 6:16manufacturing things. And also, it can be  baking, it can be knitting, making food
84. 6:21and you're actually making something from the  start and I get the final product. So I think,
85. 6:28that's something very fulfilling and  something that makes me happy at least.
86. 6:34After my rather active  happiness session with Lena,
87. 6:37making pottery is a great way  for me to relax and wind down.
88. 6:46This is my sausage so far... Ehm, yeah.
89. 6:50But actually, Tero did it before so all I did was cutting off the edges. Anyway.
90. 6:55We can say it's your sausage.
91. 7:02So much happiness, I'm wondering where's the catch?
92. 7:05The Finns must have  their problems too, right?
93. 7:09For many years, Finland struggled  with very high suicide rates.
94. 7:13But over the last 20 years, thanks in part  to state programs, these rates have been
95. 7:17reduced by around 50 percent. And the image of  Finland as a nation of heavy drinkers is not
96. 7:22necessarily true, compared to other European  countries. Finland ranks in the middle,
97. 7:28and per capita, alcohol consumption  has fallen over the past decade.
98. 7:31But doesn't the long and dark  winter affect the Finns' happiness?
99. 7:37As regards to the weather, we know that  of course changes in weather are usually
100. 7:41something that affect people's happiness: When  it's a rainy day that makes you more miserable.
101. 7:45And when it's the first sunny day after a long  winter people are very joyful about that. But
102. 7:51at the same time people are getting used to  weather patterns of their home country. So,
103. 7:55when you live in Finland, you get used to the  pattern and because of that it doesn't have
104. 7:59too much effect on your  average levels of happiness.
105. 8:08Maybe it's down to one aspect of the Finnish  mentality that is key to their happiness:
106. 8:15It's called Sisu.
107. 8:16To quote Mika Häkkinen, it's basically having the b**** to go fast in a corner.
108. 8:22It's just like the mentality to kind  of get though things whatever happens.
109. 8:26Like an attitude that you're not going to give up  but you just keep going and good things will come.
110. 8:33I hope good things await me at my last  stop of the day. I'm meeting up with
111. 8:36"Happiness Hacker" number three, chef Luka Balac.
112. 8:45He runs three restaurants in Helsinki with  two business partners. Besides good food,
113. 8:50they focus on sustainability  and a zero-waste approach.
114. 8:54Like here, in the "Elm" restaurant. It  offers Mediterranean and seasonal cuisine.
115. 9:02And how can he make people happy as a chef?
116. 9:06Oh yeah, this definitely makes me happy.
117. 9:10Cooking for me means, bringing families together or people that you
118. 9:14like around one table. And that means generating happy memories together.
119. 9:21So definitely food has a high impact  on happiness. And we have a special kind of
120. 9:29force with us as restaurants that we are in  charge of people's happiness for two or
121. 9:36three hours that the customers are with us. So  I have a very important role in all of this.
122. 9:51At the end of the day, happiness is  very subjective and can be found in many
123. 9:54different ways. As I learned today, staying  true to yourself, pursuing your passions
124. 9:59and sharing good moments with others  are some of the keys to a happy life.
125. 10:03What is it that makes you  happy? Leave it in the comments.