介绍： Why is Finland so happy?

The World Happiness Report, as the survey was called, used global polling data（调查结果） from Gallup to measure how pleased people felt with their lives（生活满意度）. The researchers then tried to explain the differences using variables （变量）such as GDP per person（人均国内生产...

介绍： Why is Finland so happy?

The World Happiness Report, as the survey was called, used global polling data（调查结果） from Gallup to measure how pleased people felt with their lives（生活满意度）. The researchers then tried to explain the differences using variables （变量）such as GDP per person（人均国内生产总值）, social support, healthy-life expectancy（健康寿命预期值）, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption（廉洁程度）. The differences between top-ranking countries are tiny（差别是微小的）, and the top five have not changed for years. This year’s report measured immigrant happiness for the first time, and Finland topped this category as well. This suggests that happy societies are those with supportive social systems and institutions that make it harder for people to fall through the cracks（被忽视）. They are also more willing to accept and integrate immigrants.

The secret to Finland’s happiness might just be how boring it is. A Finnish saying sums it up well: “Happiness is having your own red summer cottage （避暑别墅）and a potato field.” Free education, generous parental leave and a healthy work-life balance ensure that people have the time and the means to pursue their pleasures, no matter how mundane（寻常的，平凡的）. Over 80% of Finns trust the country’s police, education and health-care systems（医疗系统）. And because of progressive taxation（累进税制） and wealth redistribution（财富再分配）, the lifestyles of the rich and the poor are not dramatically divergent（发散的）. Neither are those of men and women. Finland is widely considered （公认为）one of the best places in the world to be a mother, and to be a working woman. Though suicide rates are distressingly high（高的令人恐慌）, Finland has reduced these by 30%（将减少30%） since 2000. The happiness of immigrants stems from a strong support network and integration policies, but also from the fact that immigrants in Finland tend to come from places that are culturally close（文化接近的地方）, like neighbouring Estonia ［e'stəʊnɪə］爱沙尼亚 and Russia. 

Other cultural factors and national characteristics may also play a part. The Finns have a word, sisu, which means stoic （坚忍的，不抱怨的人）perseverance（坚持不懈） and grit（勇气毅力）, whatever comes your way（无论面对什么）.