Happy in their (frozen) bubble...

Here we go again with the happy Finns...

If countries like Finland and Guatemala can both figure high up this chart, what precisely is being measured by 'happiness'?

On his recent Scandi-tour Simon Reeve seemed more reluctant to look under the covers in Finland than he was in say Norway. Indeed, if anything he seemed to be quietly in awe of their collective determination to have each other's backs.

The trouble is (or at least one of them is), and this aspect of Finland went unmentioned, is that it tends to score lowest — along with Austria — for race relations in the EU. (viz the European Agency for Fundamental Rights's 'Being Black in the EU' survey.)

It's something of a tenet of American woke dogma that systemic racism is a by-product of slavery and colonialism, yet neither Finland nor Austria are exactly famous for their seaborne empires.

Britain on the other hand, miserable as it may be, is up there with Sweden and Norway when it comes to basic contemporary levels of getting on with other people.

In the 2023 World Values Survey only 5% of Brits objected objected to having immigrants as neighbours and only 2% to having immigrants of a different race.

Sweden scored 3% and 1% here and Norway 5% and 3%. (I'm not sure how these percentages work — like, do they also ask the immigrants about their neighbours?)

Finland's strong national identity seems to come with elements of social segregation.

Yet as always, comparing across data sets reveals complexities. Happiness levels are still apparently robust amongst immigrants in Finland, aligning with those of the natives, which is perhaps a little surprising as many of them will have started life somewhere with less snow and ice.

The happiest Finns I ever encountered were in Leningrad.