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All Smiles In Finland

Anthony Hubbard, Journalist • June 2, 2025

All Smiles in Finland by: Anthony Hubbard

Finnish flag on a sunny day (Anthony Hubbard)

"Finland is once again acknowledged as the world's happiest country for the eighth year in a row — but why?"
“I would say that having a strong safety net / welfare state as well as laws that favor workers relative to employers is very conducive to lower stress levels among citizens and enables them to pursue their best life without worrying about where their next meal is coming from.”

- Rems Pokorny, Ap Gov
Finland’s country has been able to maintain such a high happiness rate due to its policies that are heavily socialism leaning. Finland’s citizens enjoy policies and government welfare like reliable and free education for every child from early childhood to university with policies focused on equality accessibility and overall student well being. Finland’s citizens also enjoy many benefits including free healthcare, a deeply and culturally embedded work life balance, and strong labor rights and unions. Finland’s country is very centered on the well being of its citizens as former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin once said “Happiness is not a miracle — it is the result of good policies.” revealing it is quite literally their policies that led them to this very successful and happy outcome. However there as some downsides to this as well. Due to all the welfare and programs the taxes are relatively high, as well as the longer wait times for healthcare do to the free and universalism of it, also finland has one of the highest populations that is 65 and above putting my pressure on healthcare and pension. Overall though finland’s been able to maintain their standard of living and happiness through these social policies that are funding by and enjoyed by the citizens of the finnish government and passed by their socialist leaning policies as once was said by author Anu Partanen “In Finland, the idea is that everyone deserves a good life — not just the lucky ones.”
"I think the US should follow their practices. it would pay off in the long run. Students would also be more inclined to go into higher education next line. for any of these beneficial programs to work people would have to believe in them. The government would have to create a system where people trust in their transparency and ability to execute."

- Zoe Hubbard College Student
Work Cited

TheConversation.com. 5 Apr. 2023, theconversation.com/ why-finland-is-the-happiest-country-in-the-world-an-expert-explains-203016. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Finland.fi. Mar. 2025, finland.fi/life-society/ eight-years-in-a-row-finland-remains-in-first-place-in-world-happiness-report-other-nordics-in/. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Education: http://infofinland.fi/.%2012%20Dec.%202024,%20www.infofinland.fi/education/%20the-finnish-education-system?utm_source.%20Accessed%209%20Apr.%202025.

Healthcare:

hl.fi. 26 Jan. 2024,thl.fi/en/-/european-comparison-finns-health-is-relatively-good-long-wait-times-worsen-access-to-health-services?utm_source= Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Work life balance: Finnwards.com. 4 Aug. 2022, www.finnwards.com/working-in-finland/ new-family-leave-policy-took-effect-in-finland-on-august-1-2022/ ?utm_source=com. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Taxes: OECD. Tax Policy. OECD, www.oecd.org/tax/. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Healthcare: “European Comparison: Finns’ Health Is Relatively Good – Long Wait Times Worsen Access to Health Services.” Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), https://thl.fi/en/-/european-comparison-finns-health-is-relatively-good-long-wait-times-worsen-access-to-health-services. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Aging Population Statistics Finland. Population Structure. https://www.stat.fi/til/vaerak/index_en.html. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Families:Factsheet: Child Welfare and Care. PDF file.

Students:“Financial Aid and Social Benefits of Students with Families.” Suomi.fi, https://www.suomi.fi/services/information/financial-aid-and-social-benefits-of-students-with-families/teaching-and-education. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Workers: Social Policy in Finland – An Overview: Social Protection (7).

Strong social trust and transparency:Sitra’s Suomi 2015 Loppuraportti.

Cultural Values of Equality and Education: “Country Portrait Finland – The Finnish Welfare State.” socialnet International, www.socialnet.de. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Smart evidence based policy making: Smart Evidence-Based Policy Making. PDF file (file name: 35a3de1b96.pdf)

High Efficient Taxation: Social Policy in Finland – An Overview: Introduction (1). [Organization not specified], PDF file. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

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All Smiles In Finland

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