• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why Finland Is So Happy (and the USA So Depressed)

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Why Finland Is So Happy (and the USA So Depressed)

For the past two years, the United Nations has ranked Finland as the world's happiest country. The U.S. has never scored in the top 10 since the index was launched in 2011, and in 2019 it plummeted to 19th.

While Finland seems perennially chirpy, the U.S. is seeing growing rates of depression, drug addiction, and suicide. Here are six reasons that residents of Finland (7.1 percent of whom are immigrants, BTW) are so happy when compared to their American counterparts:

1. Finns pay higher taxes but see more results.
2. Finland makes life easier for working parents.
3. Finland mandates generous paid time off.
4. It's easy to do business in Finland.
5. Finland has truly stellar public schools. (and it's bottom up not top down)

6. Finland has younger leaders.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
1. I pay lower taxes (I think).
2. Here I started my own business, which is great for a working parent.
3. I wasn't mandated to give generous paid time off.
4. It's easier to do business here (#12) than in Finland (#20).
Country Rankings: World & Global Economy Rankings on Economic Freedom
5. We have some great public schools. They just need to be so everywhere.
6. Finland has younger leaders. Youth is over-rated.
7. Food variety & cost is better here.
8. Engine shows are better here.
9. Ameristan is certified @Amanaki free.
10. Norwegians aren't all that happy.
Depression hits half the population
11. Just kidding about #9.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Why Finland Is So Happy (and the USA So Depressed)

For the past two years, the United Nations has ranked Finland as the world's happiest country. The U.S. has never scored in the top 10 since the index was launched in 2011, and in 2019 it plummeted to 19th.

While Finland seems perennially chirpy, the U.S. is seeing growing rates of depression, drug addiction, and suicide. Here are six reasons that residents of Finland (7.1 percent of whom are immigrants, BTW) are so happy when compared to their American counterparts:

1. Finns pay higher taxes but see more results.
2. Finland makes life easier for working parents.
3. Finland mandates generous paid time off.
4. It's easy to do business in Finland.
5. Finland has truly stellar public schools. (and it's bottom up not top down)

6. Finland has younger leaders.
It sounds like Finland has much better values than the U.S.
It sounds like they care about people. This sounds similar to the way my friend @ Nimos described life in his country, Denmark.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Is that the same U.N. that has “peace keepers” molesting children?
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
I'm happy right where I am, thank you very much. I'm within a 3 hour drive of many different state and national parks, there's great fishing and hunting to be had, people are generally down to earth and friendly with each other, and we have some of the best coffee and craft beer in the country.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I'm happy right where I am, thank you very much. I'm within a 3 hour drive of many different state and national parks, there's great fishing and hunting to be had, people are generally down to earth and friendly with each other, and we have some of the best coffee and craft beer in the country.
Sounds like paradise. :D
Actually there is a lot of what you listed where I live too.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I'm happy right where I am, thank you very much. I'm within a 3 hour drive of many different state and national parks, there's great fishing and hunting to be had, people are generally down to earth and friendly with each other, and we have some of the best coffee and craft beer in the country.
I add that where I live now is too big of a city so I would rather live in a smaller city or small town. The traffic is killing me and I cannot drive in it so I cannot get to the recreational spots that are all around me. :(
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
I add that where I live now is too big of a city so I would rather live in a smaller city or small town. The traffic is killing me and I cannot drive in it so I cannot get to the recreational spots that are all around me. :(

Thankfully where I live is touched by sea coast all around, so if one wants to live in the country while still having access to Seattle, there are many different towns with ferries all over that will take you there. Traffic in Seattle is still killer, but there are ways around it.

I don't really go there unless I feel like joining all the tourists that flock there from all over the world for the standard Pike's Place tour, or unless the Seattle Science Center or Art Museum has a new exhibit. There's a Chinese bakery there called "Mee Sum Bakery" that is out of this world.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
What do Norwegians have to do with the Finns?
From the linked article...

Just one day after Norway was ranked as the best country in the world in which to live comes news that roughly half of all Norwegians will suffer depression or anxiety at some point in their lives. Psychiatric ailments have taken over as the country’s most widespread, and expensive, in the health care sector.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I have an annual pass to Disneyland. The happiest place on earth. :)
I prefer....
OGC.95c82bfc74f969d1adc5de936530e090
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
From the linked article...

Just one day after Norway was ranked as the best country in the world in which to live comes news that roughly half of all Norwegians will suffer depression or anxiety at some point in their lives. Psychiatric ailments have taken over as the country’s most widespread, and expensive, in the health care sector.

I suppose. Curious what that has to do with Finland, though. Though Norwegians generally regard Finns as fellow Scandinavians, they also speak a vastly different language and have a very different culture. Finns definitely stand out compared to the other Scandi countries.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Thankfully where I live is touched by sea coast all around, so if one wants to live in the country while still having access to Seattle, there are many different towns with ferries all over that will take you there. Traffic in Seattle is still killer, but there are ways around it.

I don't really go there unless I feel like joining all the tourists that flock there from all over the world for the standard Pike's Place tour, or unless the Seattle Science Center or Art Museum has a new exhibit. There's a Chinese bakery there called "Mee Sum Bakery" that is out of this world.
I guessed you might be in the Northwest, all that hunting and fishing. :D
I am down in the Olympia area, living in the country 12 miles from the city but the traffic is still a killer because I have to shop and go to work... I would die driving in Seattle so I would take public transit if I had to go there. :eek:
I ride my bike to work and I am lucky to still be alive dodging all the traffic.... but it is better than driving in it. :(
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
I guessed you might be in the Northwest, all that hunting and fishing. :D
I am down in the Olympia area, living in the country 12 miles from the city but the traffic is still a killer because I have to shop and go to work... I would die driving in Seattle so I would take public transit if I had to go there. :eek:
I ride my bike to work and I am lucky to still be alive dodging all the traffic.... but it is better than driving in it. :(

Nice! I'm up in South Kitsap myself. Thankfully the traffic isn't so bad here. I'm thinking of moving up to Jefferson County, though. I feel I might be more at home with the rest of the weirdos at Port Townsend. We'll see, though! I might just stay in SK and move to Poulsbo, speaking of Scandinavians.

Poulsbo Washington – a little slice of Norway! | RetireBook
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Nice! I'm up in South Kitsap myself. Thankfully the traffic isn't so bad here. I'm thinking of moving up to Jefferson County, though. I feel I might be more at home with the rest of the weirdos at Port Townsend. We'll see, though! I might just stay in SK and move to Poulsbo, speaking of Scandinavians.

Poulsbo Washington – a little slice of Norway! | RetireBook
My mother and brother lived in Port Angeles for about 30 years so I drove from here to there quite a few times. That is a town that is sized for me. :) Port Townsend is also very cool. I almost got a job there once with the county but then I got a job with the state so I had to stay down in the Olympia area.

If I was young like you I would be thinking about moving but I am getting too old to move, but I might move anyway. I cannot make any major decisions like that till I retire, hopefully next year. This big house is really too much for us now that we are older and my husband is 10 years older than me and not a handyman or a yard guy. :(
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
My mother and brother lived in Port Angeles for about 30 years so I drove from here to there quite a few times. That is a town that is sized for me. :) Port Townsend is also very cool. I almost got a job there once with the county but then I got a job with the state so I had to stay down in the Olympia area.

If I was young like you I would be thinking about moving but I am getting too old to move, but I might move anyway. I cannot make any major decisions like that till I retire, hopefully next year. This big house is really too much for us now that we are older and my husband is 10 years older than me and not a handyman or a yard guy. :(

Oh nice! You should. I hear Sequim is a good place to go for retirement, and it is pretty close to Port Angeles. It's in a rain shadow which means the weather there is a heck of a lot less harsh. I thought about going there too, but I'd miss the clouds and the rain. I want to go somewhere colder. The weather keeps warming up I notice, and I've always been a cold weather person. Maybe I should just go up into Jeuno in Alaska, but I would miss it here. Dunno! I still got time to figure it out. :D
 
Top