Why Finland is the most depressed "happiest country" in the world?

Finland was ranked happiest country in the world for fourth year in a row.

Interestingly, this came as a surprise to many Finns, saying:

"I guess we are ranked the happiest country in the world because all the depressed ones have already killed themselves."

"Happiness for a Finn is all relative depending on how much you drink!"

"Err... Must be everybody else then."

Here you go, the famous Finnish dark humour.

So why do Finns find it hard to believe that Finland is the happiest country in the world? 

After visiting Finland for the first time in 2016, attended numerous sauna sessions and made many Finnish friends, I decided to take the liberty to share from an outsider's view:

1. "If you walk on the street of Helsinki, wave and smile at strangers, you are either crazy or an American tourist."

Many Finns describe themselves as taciturn and prone to melancholy and admit to eyeing public displays of joyfulness with suspicion. 

So unless you know Finns well personally, they can come across to be pretty cold, quiet and reserved.

2. Finns seem to joke about everything, especially when things are hard

People often use humour as a coping mechanism when things are not going well, which is why a lot of famous comedians suffer from depression, a phenomenon known as the "Sad Clown Paradox" - a contradictory association between comedy and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.

3. Finns drink a lot

Finns are famous for drinking until they drop. "Kalsarik?nnit" is such a common concept in Finland that the ministry of foreign affairs designed two emojis of people getting stuck at home in their underwear.

Drinking alone other than socially is a common sign of alcoholism, as an escape from problems in life for people who struggle with sadness, anxiety, anger or other mental health issues.

4. Finns suppress and bottle up their emotions 

Finnish TV dramas often lack any strong emotional display, characters never seem to yell, laugh or cry out loud, everyone seems just so... emotionless?

In real life, I found Finns feel rather uncomfortable around highly emotional people who visibly express their emotions, and struggle with how to react or offer comfort in their time of distress, as if emotion holds a sort of stigma and pain for them personally.

They also fear confrontation and seem to avoid unpleasant emotions by sarcasm or silent withdrawal. 

5. ‘Everything was fine, but…’

“You almost feel like you don't have the right to be depressed when you're living in a country like Finland where the living standard is so high,” explains a Finn who was first diagnosed with depression as a teenager and struggled with the illness throughout her twenties.

I am not sure whether the sisu culture has anything to do with it. sisu is a highly admired trait in Finland for someone's inner strength and perseverance. Do Finns find it harder to admit that they are feeling vulnerable or sad because they don't want to be judged to be weak by their peers? So they will say they are happy even when they are actually not?

But there is a rising trend of people trying to prevent that depression by going to therapy early, the general consensus is that it’s better and easier to open up to a semi-unfamiliar person than wasting any of those precious moments with real friends just complaining about one's issues. 

6. Finns are comfortable, but is that happiness?

Finland's welfare and tax system ensures the general public's basic needs are well taken care of, especially when it comes to healthcare and education. So it's easy for any Finn to lead a comfortable life. But for me, comfort breeds complacency and indifference to growth, whille happiness is a sense of fulfillment from growth through positive change, innovation and pushing through obstacles.

Not only does the welfare state lead to “let’s be equally poor!” (quote Margaret Thatcher), complacency in excess becomes boredom, boredom in excess can lead to depression. 

Fortunately Finland has some innately very creative and highly motivated entrepreneurs that are taking risks to innovate despite comfort.

Conclusion

Happiness is quite a subjective thing, only the Finns will know truly whether they are happy or not. 

To the Finns and Finland lovers, complaining and debating is a beautiful thing, it helps you offload negative emotions. ;) So why not let's get this discussion started? I'd love to hear what you think in the comment session.