Another happiness ranking

The 2024 World Happiness Report is out, and Finland is on top (the UK is number 20).

I have recently been listening to the marvellous Moomin books by the Finnish author Tove Jannson (on Audible, read by Hugh Dennis). They reveal a quirky sense of humour and a penetrating understanding of human nature that, if typical of Finnish people, might contribute to a happy experience of life. On the other hand, understanding human nature well could equally lead to despair. (There is, indeed, a dark undercurrent in the stories, which may be why not everyone likes them.)

So why are the Finnish people on top? How is this decided? While the researchers suggest various social conditions that may contribute to life satisfaction, such as social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perception of corruption, and so on, the country ranking is actually based on self-assessment. People are asked to rank themselves on a ladder that stretches from worst possible life (0) to best possible life (10).

There are recognised problems with such surveys. Is this a good way to measure happiness? What cultural assumptions are built into the way questions are asked? Some critics suggest that what people are measuring on such a ladder is not really their happiness so much as their (perceived) status compared to others. So they might rank themselves fairly high even if they are rather unhappy. More confusing, when people are asked which rung they would prefer to be on, they do not usually say 10. Most say 8. If they are asked how happy they would like to be, however, they answer 10. The ladder, then, does not actually seem to measure happiness.

I can see how this might happen. I think it is a much better life, for instance, when I have free access to a Bible and the freedom to meet in church. That is quite a different question to how happy I am – I could be frustrated in all sorts of other ways, but still rank a religiously free life as much better. Happiness, after all, is not everything.

And maybe this is a problem for others, too. Perhaps a ladder is the wrong metaphor. When people are asked to rank their happiness without a ladder being suggested, and asked why they give the answer they give, they tend to answer not in terms of how much money they have (for instance) but financial security; they also mention other things such as relationships and family.

This would certainly be more consistent with what the Bible says about flourishing. It describes wealth of relationships as being more important than physical riches, relationship with God being the most important. It would not be surprising if creatures in God’s image would instinctively want such things, and recognise how good they are.

Except, of course, when they are explicitly asked to rank themselves against others. Then people don’t seem to think in terms of what actually makes them happy, but of how they are faring in comparison to others. That is unlikely to be a good thing. It can easily encourage us either in pride, or in our inherent covetousness and inclination to envy. Love does not envy, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us; a hard lesson for most of us to learn. Psychology would tell us that happiness does not envy, either. Happiness research in general concludes that one of the worst things you can do for happiness is to compare yourself with others.

So why have a national ranking at all? To do the researchers justice, they do not headline the national comparison – the report instead starts with data on happiness and age, and advice for child wellbeing and good ageing. But media stories about the report always seem to go straight to ‘which is the happiest country?’ Yet this kind of table ranking is totally at odds with what we know about how to make people happy. Why not instead just publish ‘good life advice from the people of Finland’, if the ranking must be mentioned at all? No doubt there is some word, similar to the Danish hygge, which could spawn a new tranch of lifestyle books. It might be useful for government offices who are setting policy to understand why Finnish people thrive. But headlines that tell us Finnish people are happier than us – especially if there’s nothing, personally, we can do about it – is not going to help our happiness.

Instead of comparing ourselves with others, how much better to focus on what we can do, here. Especially if we focus on what we can do to improve someone else’s happiness. Or move to Finland. That’s always an option.