The Nordics are always winning the happiness race. Finland took the top spot for the fifth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, and Iceland. But why are they so consistently happy?
Some say it’s because they are small, homogenous, and wealthy. Several years ago, a research paper even suggested it was because they are genetically bound to be happier.
But according to the World Happiness Report (WHR), those theories are not accurate.
First, let’s talk about money
Yes, Nordic countries are all relatively rich and happy, but not all relatively rich nations are happy like the Nordics. Singapore, one of the wealthiest in the world, sits at the 27th place, while Kuwait, the world’s fifth-richest, is all the way back in the 54th spot.
The one money factor we should look into is that Nordic countries are known for having low levels of income inequality, yet researchers have not proven that it actually correlates with high life satisfaction. However, what they have been able to prove is that if income inequality leads to mistrust, then it does directly contribute to lower life satisfaction. Simply put, people really do hate feeling cheated.
Must be genetics, then. Are they biologically predisposed to be happy?
Even if the answer to that question was a resounding yes, that would only paint about a third of the picture.
Science has been telling us for years that genetics play a role in explaining people’s satisfaction with their lives. It’s what the happiness experts call the ‘biomarkers’ of happiness.
However studies tell us that 60 to 70 per cent of the difference in happiness between people is caused by environmental factors, so only the remaining 30 to 40 per cent is attributable to genetics.
It’s not because they are ‘small’ and ‘homogenous’ nations
The WHR authors also say they have failed to show a relation between the size of a country’s population and life satisfaction.
And what’s more, Nordic countries are not exactly homogenous. Around 8 per cent of the Finnish population is foreign-born, about the same percentage as in Denmark, where 7.5 per cent is foreign. That’s not that different from countries such as France, where immigrants make up around 10 per cent of the population.
And if you still argue that 10 per cent is significant, findings from the 2018 World Happiness Report showed the share of immigrants in a country has no effect on the average level of happiness of those locally born.
Of the happiest countries, 10 on the list had a common share of immigrants averaging 17.2 per cent, which is about twice as much as the global average.
And what is most important yet. Other analyses show that the effect of ethnic diversity on social trust becomes unimportant when there are quality government institutions. And this leads us to the binding element behind Nordic happiness: trust.
We asked the editor of the World Happiness Report, Professor John F. Helliwell, who has been working on happiness surveys for 25 years: how can nations be happy, Nordic style?
“The simple answer is to be high on all of the six variables,” he jokes, referring to the six key indicators in the World Happiness Report – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
“But where they [the Nordics] are really top on, is in trust and benevolence, both within their official institutions and their private behaviour”.
What does that mean, in practice? This is what experts think it comes down to.
Source: Euro News
