Finns: Second happiest people in Europe
A questionnaire was passed out to Europeans featuring 150 questions on the quality of life, media monitoring habits, political attitudes, religion, healthcare, family and work - Finland took home the silver…
Finns were assessed only a hair’s breath chirpier than the Danes. The Swiss followed close on the heels of the Finns. The Norwegians came in fourth and the Swedes managed fifth position.
Another survey were much or all of the determining factors were self-critical. A few months ago I commented about a Finnish survey on drinking habits, the survey determined that drinking has actually gone down after the recent alcohol tax-breaks. The government organization, STAKES, and some of this blog’s readers immediately discredited the survey because it was self-critical. So should we discredit this survey about happiness and the very recent survey on competitiveness, just because they’re self-critical?
What a complete load of crap! I have not read something this funny in a while. Isnt a happy Finn oxymoronic?
Comment by Anonymous — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 1:08 pm
I guess they don’t factor in suicides and depression into their survey, heh.
Comment by Phil — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 1:33 pm
Phil
“I guess they don’t factor in suicides”
Suicides reduce number people who are depressed, right?
“and depression into their survey, heh.”
It is kinda funny that the most happiest people are studends, who happen to be at the same time the most depressed people.
Comment by Syltty — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 2:01 pm
Isnt a happy Finn oxymoronic?
Not necessarily. Just because we complain doesn’t mean we’re unhappy. i don’t find it at all hard to believe that Finns are not at all unsatisfied with their lives.
Comment by Anzi — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 2:03 pm
Now there’s a Kodak moment!
Comment by Joonas — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 2:21 pm
I really almost want you to get away with this one, Phil (no, honsetly, I DO), for sheer doggedness in bringing up that old alcohol story again, where you got a bit of a mauling, as I recall.
But surely this is apples & oranges. The difference is that the booze survey was one in isolation, in which the (Finnish) respondents almost all lied through their teeth about how sober they were, while the other two examples are COMPARATIVE international studies that are admittedly flawed because of the “self-critical” component (though the WEF one is only partially subjective), in which everyone concerned - pipe-smoking Danes, ouzo-soaked Greeks, cheese-eating surrender-monkeys, Latvians with triple digit suicide rates, Brits with straight cucumbers to fret over, Swiss members of wacky religious cults bent on mass suicide pacts and flying to Sirius, and Finns - ALMOST ALL LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH.
The fact that the Finns come out near the top of the heap means one of two things: 1. they are BIGGER liars than everyone else, or 2. assuming a lie-factor that is more or less constant across the continent, they really don’t feel that bad about their lives. I’m very reluctant to allow that Finns are bigger or better liars than the next man, since this observation would only result in yet-another-bloody-study and yet more headlines of the sort:
Finns win top ranking in Opaqueness International’s Terminological Inexactitude Survey
or as the Finnpundit Clarion and Bugle would put it.
Freeriders make free with truth; welfare state is “big lie”
This we don’t need.
Comment by Hymiö — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 5:37 pm
But *WHY* lie? Okay, maybe some will, but they’re in the minority. It’s not like they’re being asked, “Have you done something illegal?” - These are (I’m assuming) anonymous surveys. I don’t see the point in lying, let alone “everyone lying through their teeth” - I have a littl more faith in my fellow mankind than that.
The alcohol survey had to do with your drinking habits. That is something that is countable. “I had two beers yesterday.” The recent surveys, especially this happiness survey, doesn’t really measure anything concrete. It’s just “feelings” they’re measuring. So my guess would be that people are way more likley to, not “lie”, but not give the most accurate results. While on the otherhand, the number of drinks you had is concrete information, you’d be more likely to give accurate information.
Comment by Phil — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 6:04 pm
But *WHY* lie
perhaps telling a complete stranger that your life is crap and the thought of that person judging you on your answear would sway a lot of people into painting a rosier picture.
and taking into account finlands number 1 spot in the world economic forum again after finnish bosses answearing questions on there own performance maybe finns are willing to tell a little porky to be patriotic
Comment by sppuuddy — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 6:37 pm
Embarrassment? Reluctance to look/sound like you’re a lush? Anonymity doesn’t count for THAT much. However anonymous a study is, if you ask people how often they beat their wives, not many of them are going to put “1-2 times a week, usually on Fridays”. Many people (serious drinkers included) may have a twinge of conscience about that fourth scotch with breakfast. Why do we tend to smile and mug when we look in the mirror? For heaven’s sakes, it’s only us looking back at ourselves.
And there may well be a “patriotic” factor in the other studies, but I don’t buy into the idea that the Finns would be alone in having sussed it and exploited it to artificially bump up their ratings. It’s likely the inaccuracies in reporting would balance themselves out among different countries and cultures. As for the value of a “happiness” study, well, if it was on eBay I don’t think there’d be many takers. It’s touching and slightly pathetic that news agencies in little countries like Finland consider these things worthy of column-inches. And of course they cherry-pick as always: the actual questionnaire was a lot more extensive. It’s here (all 83 pages of it):
http://ess.nsd.uib.no/index.jsp?year=2005&country=&module=questionaires
“How happy are you?” is Q.C1/18 on p.15. Looks like there are HUNDREDS of questions.
Comment by Hymiö — Fri, Sep 30th, 2005 @ 6:39 pm
It’s touching and slightly pathetic that news agencies in little countries like Finland consider these things worthy of column-inches.
It’s a little more than that: it’s political. Happiness is an important facet for a welfare state.
The Finnish term for welfare, hyvinvointi, is actually a direct translation of “well” and “fare”, but it also connotes “good feeling”, in other words, happiness. (This connotation is lost for Americans, whose understanding of the term “welfare” regularly conjures up social misery, intractable problems and high taxes).
If happiness did not exist in a welfare state, then such a state would lose its political justification. Thus, column-inches are devoted in newspapers on a regular basis to keep reminding people of how happy they are.
Comment by Finnpundit — Sat, Oct 1st, 2005 @ 4:16 am
Atteenshun! Put your red noses on. Now we are happy. At ease!
Comment by Antti (the redneck one) — Sat, Oct 1st, 2005 @ 4:23 pm
However anonymous a study is, if you ask people how often they beat their wives, not many of them are going to put “1-2 times a week, usually on Fridays”.
That’s illegal. Drinking often or depression is not. Apples and oranges.
Embarrassment? Reluctance to look/sound like you’re a lush?
Right, well being depressed and unhappy is just as bad if not worse. For me personally, I’d much rather admit that I drink a bit to often rather than telling people I’m depressed and unhappy.
Comment by Phil — Sat, Oct 1st, 2005 @ 7:31 pm
What is it with you and surveys, anyway? You actually take them seriously?
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Oct 3rd, 2005 @ 12:50 am