Finland has once again been chosen as the happiest country in the world. We must ask: whose happiness are we actually talking about?
Finland has once again been chosen as the happiest country in the world. For the ninth year in a row. International headlines repeat images of trust, safety, and wellbeing. They are filled with pictures of lake landscapes, saunas, and contented people. Around the world, we are admired as a society where trust works, public services function, and people live well.
At the same time, however, something is happening here that does not fit into the narrative of happiness rankings. We must ask: whose happiness are we actually talking about?
Young People’s Faith in the Future Is Crumbling
The latest Youth Barometer paints a bleak picture. Just a few years ago, about eight out of ten young people viewed their future optimistically. Now, only a little over 60 percent feel optimistic about their future. Only 17% of young people are optimistic about the future of the world, whereas in 2008 the figure was still 39%. For the first time, every second young person now views the world’s future pessimistically.
This is not a minor fluctuation but a historic shift. More and more young people feel uncertainty, see Finland’s direction worsening, and doubt their own place in the future.
When young people lose faith in tomorrow, it is not an attitude problem, it is a societal warning sign.
The Safety Nets Are Tearing
At the same time, drug-related deaths in Finland are at record levels. In recent years, more than 300 people have died from drugs annually — the equivalent of a plane full of preventable deaths. Substance use has been increasing for a long time, and especially combined drug use makes the situation even more dangerous. The side effects of rising substance use are visible every day and are particularly tragic for those struggling with addiction.
Drug use is no longer a marginal phenomenon. It is visible in cities, in services, on the streets, and in the everyday lives of more and more families. In a country called the happiest in the world, too many people die alone from overdoses.
Homelessness has also begun to rise again. More and more people live with uncertainty about where they will sleep the next night. This points to one thing: the safety nets no longer carry everyone.
The idea of the Nordic welfare state was that no one would fall completely through the cracks. Now, more and more people are falling.
Political Speech and Everyday Reality
At the same time as people are left alone and invisible on the streets, the government repeats its message of a successful government program. Economic balance. Responsibility.
But if we measure by young people’s belief in the future, rising drug deaths, and increasing homelessness, the picture looks different.
It is difficult to claim that recent policies have broadly increased happiness. For many, spending cuts have felt like cold blows below the belt, ones that have eroded the foundations of the welfare state in ways that may not be easy to reverse. It seems certain that the current direction has made no one happier except perhaps the wealthiest.
Finns are considered a resilient people. We adapt, we understand, and we endure. But current developments inevitably raise a question: how far can those already struggling in this country be pushed before something breaks?
The Youth Barometer, drug statistics, and growing insecurity are not separate phenomena. They are signs that the security of society’s most vulnerable is wavering.
Happiness Is Not a Ranking
Happiness reports speak in averages. But averages do not show the young person who has lost faith in the future. Not the person who loses their home. Not the family whose loved one struggles with addiction, nor those whom Finland’s substance abuse services fail to reach. Happiness is not a ranking. It is the experience that life carries you and that society carries you when you no longer can. This is now at risk of breaking, and we must do everything we can to prevent that from happening.