Some years ago I moved back to Finland (#1) after several years in the US (now at #24).

While the quality of life really is objectively better with children, the secret to these rankings is probably the calibration inherent in the question. Finnish people just don’t have high expectations. Every positive development is a welcome surprise.

Americans are primed to want it all and seem to constantly compare themselves against unachievable standards on social media. “The American Dream” is more illusionary than ever. Everybody is a temporarily inconvenienced billionaire. This can be positive when it produces a drive that builds things, but it seems to mostly produce unhappiness right now because it’s so out of balance.

the secret to these rankings is probably the calibration inherent in the question. Finnish people just don’t have high expectations. Every positive development is a welcome surprise.

Yes but that calibration is also the secret to happiness.

All happiness is relative to expectation.

I have lived in Thailand for the last ~8yrs. It's unfortunate not to see it on the list as I think generally speaking Thais are much happier than either US (where I travel a lot for work) or Australians (my home country).

A big chunk of that is the expectations, they don't need many material things to enjoy life and place a much higher emphasis on community and social standing (which isn't primarily derived from material wealth). Your occupation in Thailand has a very large impact on your social standing - more than the income you derive from it. i.e doctors are extremely well respected, however public doctors more so than private ones despite the latter being more wealthy.

Sense of community is something that builds you up rather than the Western trope of comparing yourself to your neighbour that breaks you down.

That very simple difference seems to have an outsized impact on how happy folk are here.

There are exceptions and Bangkok is much more Western but if you live out in the country like me then Thailand is a very happy place.

As a US citizen I just want affordable healthcare, housing, and a system that supports families. I think for the younger generation where this isn't attainable it causes a lot of unhappiness and leads to greater stressors. Also we are at a big low with faith in our political system across the pillars of government. I think for most of us we don't want it all, we just want our basic needs met without worrying about losing then tomorrow.

> Finnish people just don’t have high expectations. Every positive development is a welcome surprise.

You’re just covering up the real truth: Finnish happiness is a result of everyone having access to a sauna :)

Mina rakastan löyly, haluan saunassa nyt!

(What I hope I said: ‘I love throwing water on the sauna rocks and the experience of the resulting steam, I want to go into a sauna now’)

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On a more serious note, do you think the ever present threat of Russia and obligatory military service affects the expectations of Finnish people? Meaning, there is an actual tangible threat bordering Finland, which last invaded just 86 years ago (and forced Finland to ally with a country we won’t name so they would emerge from WWII independent, only Norway and Finland managed to achieve that, every other European country bordering the USSR was behind the iron curtain)

Do you think that keeps Finnish people’s expectations more grounded? Or is it something else entirely?

>While the quality of life really is objectively better with children, the secret to these rankings is probably the calibration inherent in the question.

that's not really a secret or calibration issue though, that gets to the core of what happiness is, a relational property between expectation and reality. It's not an objective measure like income or height.

I don't think the notion of an 'objective' quality of life even makes a lot of sense. Quality of life is always measured against some concrete alternative, not against some abstract scale or points based system. Two people are going to have very different attitudes towards some way of life purely depending on what direction they come from.

Yeah, these surveys seem to miss the cultural nuances. Totally agree with your assessment.