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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2023
“Child poverty increased more for Greece and Spain … the latter especially showing an increasing trend at the end of the period. By contrast, Finland had lower rates of child poverty with a diminishing trend during the last years. Greece showed an increasing percentage of material deprivation in children from families with primary education level from the year 2009 onwards, while Sweden showed the opposite trend.”
Rajmil et al. (2018)Finland has become the “by way of contrast” country, as the British Medical Journal described it in 2018. Finland is the one place, above all other places in Europe, that shows that something much better is possible than the status quo. That is a weighty responsibility. Of course, Finland is not Utopia, but today it offers one of the closest approximations.
In 2018, when Finland first achieved its top placing in the UN's World Happiness Report, a UK newspaper reported the news with the caveat: ”… even though its GDP is below that of the US and Germany” (Boseley 2018). Finland shows why achieving a very high GDP is not necessary for great happiness as GDP is one of the measures where Finland does not top the tables. When Finland overtook Norway to take first place in the World Happiness Report, it did so with a GDP per capita that was more than a third lower than that of Norway; and it held that top ranked position in both 2019 and 2020.
Finland is the country that shows how it is possible for happiness to be achievable without becoming ever richer, and while having living standards in terms of material wealth that are far below those in the most affluent parts of the world, including its more affluent Scandinavian neighbours. However, the publication in August 2018 of “In the Shadow of Happiness”, a report on mental wellness, prompted some in the media to question the picture of Finland and its Nordic neighbours as happy places:
The Nordic countries top the polls as the happiest in the world, but the assumption that life in Scandinavia is all bicycles and big smiles disguises the sadness of a significant minority of young people, it has emerged.
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