The coveted Finnish happiness, explained by a Bangladeshi

As a Bangladeshi, you can, to some extent, realise why the Finns are among the happiest people on earth if you lose your job. How long can you survive if you, like scores of other Bangladeshis, have always lived from paycheque to paycheque? If you have not built up a robust rainy day fund and cannot land a new job soon, your everyday survival will hang by a thread. It's even scarier if you are the main provider in the family.   

However, a Finn will have the edge over you if he is terminated because he is entitled to unemployment benefits. This payment is never a complete substitute for a salary, but he will be able to keep his head above water and take the next steps with ease to bounce back. Unlike you, he can navigate the reality of joblessness with a sense of security because the state will come to his rescue. 

If you understand how the government, through public policies, triggers this sense of security in all citizens at various stages of their lives, you have almost solved the Finnish happiness puzzle. Ranked the world's happiest country for seven consecutive years, Finland has robust welfare policies and a strong safety net that not only create favourable conditions for citizens to live without excessive worries but also act as a buffer against disastrous life events, such as losing a job or the breadwinner's death in the family. 

The result is very high life satisfaction that Finns enjoy. This is as elusive for Bangladeshis as it is for a traveller to find water in the desert. I was overwhelmed by Finnish happiness when I was in Finland from 2016 to 2019. Of the features that make Finland a very happy country, I was particularly bewitched by social security, which provided state-sponsored support to deal with various difficult life situations. With provisions for unemployment benefit, disability allowance, pension, survivor benefit, housing allowance, child benefit, sickness allowance, etc., social security seemed to be the ultimate saviour in times of great danger. 

As I observed Finnish life, I realised social security is a real force to be reckoned with and an indispensable element in designing a high-quality life. Regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, Finns have such a life. When life throws Bangladeshis a curveball, they are completely on their own to handle it. They have no universal protection from the state against adverse life events, which is why they live with a perpetual sense of precarity. But Finns have social security – the one friend who always watches their back and never turns his back on them. 

Offering social security and wide-ranging welfare benefits to every citizen costs a lot of money, and Finland budgets accordingly. It registered the second-highest expenditure on social protection in the EU in 2021, which was 24.6% of the GDP, slightly lower than 24.8% in France, according to Eurostat. Finns pay high taxes under a progressive taxation system to avail all the welfare benefits.  

In other words, the Finnish government sells extensive security and Finns buy it by paying taxes throughout their working life. Those who do not pay taxes, including children, still enjoy the security because of a robust redistributive policy. This virtuous cycle goes on and on, enabling successive generations to be happy. 

The Bangladesh government does not sell this kind of security, which is why Bangladeshis cannot be happy like Finns. Bangladeshis certainly are jollier and smile more radiantly than Finns in public. Finns have a reputation for having a dour look on their face while walking on the street. 

However, I would rather pay high taxes to buy security from the government and walk with a poker face on the street than have my radiant smile immediately replaced by a pall of gloom when my employer fires me. Moment-to-moment happiness that stems from particular events, such as a promotion or raise at work, results in smiley faces, but it is short-lived. Happiness evoked by a profound sense of security may not make you always smile broadly, but it is way more sustainable. That's the Finnish happiness lesson. 

Mahmudul Islam is a journalist with a special focus on Finland. His writings on Finnish happiness have been published in the US and India.

Views expressed in this comment are the author's own.

Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.