Finnish happiness versus Bhutanese happiness

Bhutan has slipped to No 97 in the World Happiness Report. To all appearances, though, both the Finnish and the Bhutanese are equally happy

The human resolve to be happy has remained “remarkably resilient”, says the 2023 World Happiness Report. The report, which draws on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries, placed Finland in the top position for the sixth year in a row, with a happiness score significantly ahead of all other countries.

The World Happiness Report rankings are largely based on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll. The six key variables the report quantifies are income (gross domestic product per capita), social support, a healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. And the most common question to measure people’s well-being is: “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life these days?” To answer, respondents rely on a scale of 0-10 (0= completely dissatisfied, 10= completely satisfied). The annual results of the report are always based on average life evaluations over the past three years.

Interestingly, there is a large gap between the happiest and unhappiest countries in the list, with the top countries being more tightly grouped than the bottom ones. For countries in the top 10, for example, national life evaluation scores have an average gap of fewer than 0.7 points. In the bottom 10, however, the range of scores covers 2.1 points. War-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain amongst the two least happy countries, based on the indicators used by the report. Both countries have their average life evaluations more than five points lower (on a scale running from 0 to 10) than the 10 happiest countries.

Much of the top 10 remained largely unchanged. Denmark safeguarded its second spot, while Iceland took third place. One of the biggest jumps in the rankings was for Israel to fourth place, moving up five positions from last year. Outside the top 10, Austria and Australia took 11th and 12th positions, followed by Canada. Ireland was deemed the 14th happiest, followed by the United States (15th), Germany (16th), Belgium (17th), Czech (18th), the United Kingdom (19th), and Lithuania (20th).Year after year, the happiest countries tend to be almost the same; for instance — 19 countries out of this year’s top 20 were also on the list last year. There was one exception: Lithuania, which has steadily risen over the past six years, from 52nd rank in 2017 to 20th this year. France, by the way, dropped out of the top 20 to 21.

In the 1860s, Finland suffered a famine that killed about 9 per cent of its population. It has come a long way since then as the world’s happiest country. Three of its Nordic cousins took the next consecutive places. Finns can boast of myriad other number-one spots. In recent years, their country has been named the most stable, the freest and the safest by various organisations. These may be understandable; but in a country where temperatures regularly hover around (-) 20°C, and some parts hardly get any sunlight for a big chunk of the year, what do the locals have to be so happy about? Finns, it is said, enjoy simple pleasures — like clean air, pure water and walking around in the woods — to the fullest. Finnish happiness is of the calm and peaceful type; it’s an appreciation for how things work and the ability to pause and admire the little things that are important in life.

Things work well in Finland: Public services run smoothly, there are low levels of crime and corruption, and there is an earned trust between the government and the public. All of this works together to create a functioning society and a culture of looking out for everyone.

Interestingly, Bhutan, the original initiator of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) was ranked a poor 97th in the Happiness Report. Bhutan is the last standing Buddhist Kingdom in the world. Until recently, it has preserved much of its culture by avoiding globalisation and staying isolated from the world. Bhutan regularly measures people’s quality of life, and makes sure that “material and spiritual development happens together.” And Bhutan has done an amazing job of finding this balance. The Bhutanese are generally happy, trouble-free and contented.

More importantly, Bhutan has one of the most stable ecosystems in the world and the mountain kingdom has virtually no environmental damage due to its long isolation. The restrictions on tourism and Bhutan’s pro-active protection of natural resources have let Bhutan preserve

its beautiful landscape, as well as its cultural identity.

So why then is Finland No 1 and Bhutan at No 97 in the World Happiness Report? Is the differential just because of the GDP? Finland’s per capita GDP is $53,654.75, Bhutan’s $3,266.36. But to all appearances, both the Finnish and the Bhutanese are equally happy!

GNH was originally a Bhutanese concept. The White Man embraced it with much enthusiasm, and added metrics that suited the West. But methinks Bhutan is no less happy than Finland! What say?

The writer is managing director of Rediffusion