A new global report says that people in Finland are the happiest in the world. The northern European country is leading the world in happiness for the eighth year in a row.

Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.

Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.

Nation Table

  • @[email protected]English
    2•3 months ago

    So… people with addictions are treated as people and provided for, and they ‘can’t complain’ about their overall circumstances. Therefore the Finnish are emotionally stunted? There’s a leap of logic here

    • @[email protected]English
      1•3 months ago

      As someone who grew up in Finland, I get what they mean. Finns only bitch about things to their inner friend circle (very small circle usually), anyone outside that gets maybe a sarcastic everything’s great, especially that thing that’s really pissing me off right now kind of response. At the same time pretty much everyone gets treated generally fine and there is great support available for anyone, so it checks out those markers I assume this happiness quiz thing looks for. Why this feels weird for Finns though, is that there’s also some widespread deep depression in Finnish culture. From my viewpoint as someone who hasn’t lived in Finland for a long time now, I think unlike most other places the source of the depression isn’t the system grinding you down, it’s more internal than that. Maybe just dealing with the elements and trying to figure out what you want do with your life kind of shit.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•3 months ago

        I’m not Finnish and I got it. Sounds like my dad who’s a bit of a hardass and doesn’t like for others to worry. Life is hard, what’s complaining going to do? And yeah I’d say he’s emotionally stunted and has trouble forming real connections.

        • @[email protected]English
          1•3 months ago

          Yeah that sounds right on. That’s very common attitude/outlook with Finnish men at least. Not sure if the ladies are different or if my sample size just isn’t large enough, but the women I know are more open.