Finland – The happiest Country

From the title of this blog post, you would have already come to know that Finland is the happiest country in the world as announced a few days ago. According to The Wellbeing Research Center at the University of Oxford, which publishes this report, this report considers variables such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, freedom from corruption, etc. Finland was not declared the happiest country for this year, but it has been receiving this title for the last 6 years in a row. As an immigrant to Finland for the past 22 months, I want to share my experience of living and working in this happiest country.

            When I arrived in Finland in June 2022 from densely populated countries like Hong Kong and India, all I witnessed was peace, space, and lonely streets. Little did I know that I would feel like being at home until our next move. Even in June, the temperature was somewhere around 10 degrees, and the sun was always there in the sky. Once I remembered staying up late to check the time of the sunset and I found it to be around 2 am, and the next morning sun was in the sky around 4:15 am. It was my first experience of staying in any European country let alone any Nordic country. I was then living in Helsinki, just 2 tram stops away from the Helsinki Central Station. In my 22 months of stay, I got the chance to live in 3 apartments in 3 different places like Ruusulankatu(Helsinki), Niittykumpu(Espoo), and Appelinkatu(Espoo). There is something or the other appreciable for these locations where I stayed and that added to my experience.

I’ve experienced many firsts of my life in Finland. For example, I took my first international flight with my husband. I experienced the first snowfall and made my first snowman. I spent uncountable mornings looking at the winter wonderland from my window and feeling grateful to God for letting me witness such a beautiful view. Traveling to other nearby/EU countries like Sweden, Estonia, and Italy became easy. I traveled on a cruise and sang “My heart will go on” on a Karaoke for the first time. I attended a lot of events/job fairs, learned to play Ukulele, played Ukulele at a live concert with a group, and explored libraries and museums.

            From my experience, I would enlist the following reasons that make Finland, the happiest country;

1)     Honesty: Finnish people are truthful, honest, and straightforward. They don’t beat around the bush. I have been able to recover all my lost stuff.

2)     Punctuality: All public transport runs at the scheduled time unless there’s any technical issue.

3)     Peaceful: I have never found someone causing any noise by playing any music loudly in a residential area. Honking due to public transport is rare as people drive in the designated lanes.

4)     Nature Loving: Finnish people like to spend time with nature. They are not just interested in summer sports/activities but also enjoy winter sports like skiing, ice skating, etc.

5)     Corruption-free: There’s no corruption in Finland as people are very honest and try to do tasks assigned to them with utmost honesty and integrity.

6)     Pollution Free: The AQI index of Finland is 21 which places it among the cleanliest countries in the world. The current PM2.5 concentration in Finland is below the recommended limit given by WHO 24hr air quality guidelines values.

7)     Work-life balance: People value spending quality time with their family. So, their working hours are flexible and moderate to maintain a perfect work-life balance.

In my opinion, happiness is a state of mind which is not associated with any place or person. While some people find these 9 months-long dark and dull winter days depressing, others appreciate the shining aura that the white snow spreads. After the harsh winter, comes the beautiful spring which brightens up the surroundings and reminds me of a famous saying by P.B.Shelly , “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

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Swati Sarangi

08.04.2024

  P.S: This post is a part of #BlogChatterA2Z 2024Challenge for Alphabet ‘F’.