![\"How-Finland-embraced-being-world-happiest-nation-rapidnews-dailyrapid\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/How-Finland-embraced-being-world-happiest-nation-rapidnews-dailyrapid.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOnce notorious for its bland food and long, harsh winters, Finland\u2019s repeated success in the annual happiness rankings has helped transform\u00a0the country\u2019s global reputation, boosting tourism and business.<\/p>\n
The UN-sponsored World Happiness Report elicited some raised eyebrows when it first placed\u00a0Finland at the top of its listings in 2018:\u00a0many of the Nordic country\u2019s 5.5 million people freely\u00a0describe themselves as taciturn and prone to melancholy, and admit to eyeing public displays of joyfulness with suspicion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first heard \u2014 and I\u2019m not alone, I would say \u2014 I had a big laugh,\u201d television producer Tony Ilmoni told AFP on the still-snowy streets of the capital Helsinki on Friday, when Finland was crowned the happiest nation on earth for the fourth year running.<\/p>\n
But the worldwide survey in fact seeks to quantify individuals\u2019 personal freedom and satisfaction with their lives, using survey data from 149 countries alongside measures such as GDP, social support and perceptions of corruption.<\/p>\n
Finland excels with its quietly world-class public services, low levels of crime and inequality, and high levels of trust in authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe basics are really good here: we don\u2019t have anyone living in the streets, we do have unemployment but the health service works, the big things like that,\u201d flower seller Riitta Matilainen told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we could be a bit more outgoing and joyful!\u201d<\/p>\n
The northern country\u2019s long dark winters were once reputed to be behind high levels of alcoholism and suicide, but a decade-long public health drive has helped cut rates by more than half.<\/p>\n
For tourism and country-branding chiefs, the \u201cworld\u2019s happiest\u201d title has been a blessing they were quick to capitalise on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really powerful, emotional, evocative thing to say you\u2019re the happiest country in the world. Why would anyone not want to live in the happiest country in the world?\u201d said Joel Willans, a\u00a0British digital marketer and creator of the \u201cVery Finnish Problems\u201d social media page, who has lived in Finland since the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
\u201cAwareness of Finland has grown during the past few years,\u201d\u00a0Paavo Virkkunen, head of Finland Promotion Services at Business Finland, told AFP.<\/p>\n
After four years, the happiness trope has been used by countless Finnish businesses to market lifestyle products and to try to attract workers to relocate and join the country\u2019s\u00a0tech\u00a0sector.<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s unflashy cuisine was once derided as something to \u201cendure\u201d by Italian then-president Silvio Berlusconi, and slammed by his French counterpart Jacques Chirac.<\/p>\n
But restaurateurs and product manufacturers now tout the simplicity and natural ingredients of Finnish cooking, claiming it as key to the country\u2019s no-nonsense approach to wellbeing.<\/p>\n
The happiness marketing drive has been led, however, by the travel industry, with Finland\u2019s tourist office appointing Finnish \u2018happiness ambassadors\u2019 tasked with introducing visitors to the secrets of Finnish wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are curious about (our happiness) and they want to learn about it,\u201d Virkkunen said.<\/p>\n
Key to the Finnish brand of happiness is going outdoors to enjoy the country\u2019s vast forests and thousands of lakes, as well as the traditional Finnish steam bath, the sauna.<\/p>\n
By the start of 2020, tourism to Lapland in northern Finland had reached record levels and the country was attracting more foreign direct investment projects than anywhere else in the Nordics.<\/p>\n
While pausing international visitors, the pandemic has, if anything, increased overseas interest in Finland\u2019s clean, sparsely populated nature, leading tourist providers to offer virtual tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though people are not able to travel now, you are able to dream about Finland and the happiness of a true connection with nature, where you can really unwind,\u201d said Virkkunen.<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s four-year dominance in the happiness stakes leaves one problem, however \u2014 where to go from here?<\/p>\n
When this year\u2019s results were announced, \u201cit would\u2019ve been more news if Finland had been knocked off the top spot,\u201d Joel Willans joked.<\/p>\n
The long-time Finnish resident believes that the country\u2019s well-functioning, low-stress society has in fact lowered Finns\u2019 tolerance for when things do go wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get really aggrieved,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir happiness bubble is easily pricked when things don\u2019t go perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the benefits of the world happiness title will be long-lasting, Virkkunen believes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have grown as a nation, understanding the basics of happiness a bit better than we understood before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once notorious for its bland food and long, harsh winters, Finland\u2019s repeated success in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n