this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.

Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.

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[–] yarr 12 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

One of the problems with America is if you ask people on the street who's the happiest country in the world, a good chunk will answer America and not believe this result. I've always said the problem with being #1 (or thinking you are) is that you don't work very hard to improve.

One metric America leads the world in: self-delusion regarding its own performance in every area. How many people say America leads in math, science, health? Don't get me wrong, in a lot of categories the US is top 20, but very few where we actually are #1. Until this attitude is fixed, we're not going to see real improvement. RAH RAH RAH USA #1 is nice to whip up a crowd at a rally, but it's not good for positive ongoing change.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 hours ago

That Pledge of Allegiance shit really worked.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

How is Israel even in the top ten? They are truly detached from reality.

[–] Shezzagrad@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If you didn't put Israel in top ten, it would be considered anti Semitic

[–] superkret@feddit.org 6 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

The methodology is flawed.
They do ask people how happy they are, but most of the score is from other factors, like GDP, income equality, personal freedoms, etc.

[–] Shezzagrad@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 hour ago

It's definetly a flawed methodology. It implies the certain qualities have the same importance to cultures worldwide. I'm born in Scotland but ethnically Punjabi. I go pakistan and i see extreme poverty and struggle, yet I speak and live with people of different classes and it's often those who are poor but with community who are happiest (something similar applies to many nations I've been) not to say wealth wouldn't make them happier or live longer, but our current capitalist system is a disease that very very few nations were able to effectively control so that the society benefits (gulf Arabs, Singapore and Nordics) but generally wealth doesn't make a nation happier unless it's somewhat fairly distributed

[–] Lootboblin@lemmy.world 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Finland isnt ”happy” but less miserable than other countries. Though our current gov is cutting from the poor and education etc to make economy numbers look better. Worse times are coming.

[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 16 points 10 hours ago

How shitty are things in India when...

[–] Azal@pawb.social 15 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

US here.

I'm betting we'll be outright giddy this year compared to next year.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 17 points 8 hours ago

I don't think so. Next year being sad will be illegal.

[–] b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 7 hours ago

What you don’t want to live in a Christo-fascist dictatorship with no eggs, and lots of measles, where you get sent to Guantanamo Bay for not retweeting Elon Musk’s or Trump’s latest Nazi rant?

[–] ouch@lemmy.world 14 points 11 hours ago

As a finn, I can confirm I'm the happiest person in the world for the whole week it's sunny and doesn't rain during the summer!

Suomen kesä on kaunis ja vähäluminen.

Also, if you make it through the darkness of November alive, you must have built so much mental resiliency that rest of the year is walk in the park regardless of what happens.

[–] Yoga@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 hours ago

Serbia winning big with largest increase.

Any Serbians able to weight in on why?

[–] allo@sh.itjust.works 15 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

meanwhile, in America...

"oooh, unhappiness? how dreadfully monetizeable!"

starts big pharma antidepressants corporation

[–] helpmyusernamewontfi@lemmy.today 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 1 points 5 minutes ago

Not that hard, just got to look up how Crassus did it.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 15 points 15 hours ago

The dining alone hits. The lack of community is palpable in corporate America.

[–] Ataraxia@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I'd move back to Europe and live there but I'm too worried about Russia.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 8 points 7 hours ago

Distance will not provide you any additional safety when the nukes start flying anyway. Come back and your last time here with us.

[–] Captain_J@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago

Understandable, especially with what's going on here.

[–] arakhis_@feddit.org 78 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”

Damn that was very well said

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Wealth is just the hoarding of imaginary credits representing the hours of other people's work.

"When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

Destruction of our society and pollution of our only Earth for paper strips.

[–] Qwazpoi@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

"They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them"

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[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 53 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Back in 1960, the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00

In 'Hell's Angels' Hunter Thompson had a chapter about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. Six months of a full time Union job as a stevedore paid enough for a biker to hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could afford to support herself and her musician boyfriend.

Of course people were happy here.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 10 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You know what hilarious?

There's a sub minimum wage in America for people that earn tips (minimum of 30$ in tips a month), youths, and the disabled.

Sub minimum wage is a whopping 2.13$

[–] muxika@lemm.ee 1 points 7 minutes ago

That is the sickest thing, and the major reason tipping is such a problem in the States. Honestly, any establishment that runs on this sub-minimum wage platform deserves to go under. Next to prison labor and immigrant labor, this is the most demeaning way to live.

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