An interesting read

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AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/20/2025

I have decided to post this as a separate post, not to distract from Jonathan’s post today, but to further explore the concept of what makes not an individual, but a country happy. If a country is happier as a whole it seems intuitive that the individuals in said country would be happier as well.

I have received some of my highest negative net rating in the past for posting these facts on Humble Dollar but since I am a glutton for punishment will post these facts again:

Finland has ranked as number one for the past eight years, while the US was ranked 24th this year, and no higher than 15th over these four years. 

Why is this? Is it because they live on some tropical island where it’s sunny year round? Er, obviously not!

Is this because their personal income tax is so low? No, as of 2023 (the most recent data available) three of the top five highest taxed countries are Nordic, and Finland, the happiest county is the highest at 57.3%. They also have a 24% sales tax, and a 20% corporate tax rate. The US has the 45th highest personal income tax rate.

Are the Nordic countries the “richest”? No, Finland, the “poorest”of the Nordic countries in 2025 is ranked 21 richest. Finland’s per capita income is only 61% of the US which is ranked 7th.

Why is Finland so happy? In 2024 US News and World Report listed 5 possible reasons in this article from 2024:

I am not proposing we copy Finland, but perhaps it’s time we as a country should have a serious conversation as to how we can make changes to improve our happiness. It seems that recent changes in our society has us headed in the opposite direction from what has been proven to make a population happy.