Happiest Countries on earth. Have you seen the latest list? The top four happiest locations all lie north of the USA. I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in each of  those easygoing nations, and I have no quibble with the results. I smiled a lot while in each country. I’ll mention a few reasons why below.

Finland is the happy nation champion once again. This is the eighth straight year that Finland has risen to Number One. Following the cheerful Finns are the Danes, the Icelanders, and the Swedes.

The “Happiness” research

Researchers determined the rankings based on answers people gave when asked to rate their personal lives, apparently using whatever criteria they thought appropriate. The researchers found that seemingly simple factors influence happiness. For example, sharing meals with others, having others to count on for social support, and believing in the kindness of others were much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought. If you would like to read the entire report, click here. (HEADS UP: with references, the report fills 249 pages.)

Those of us in the USA didn’t come out so well. We glumly sit at Number 24. This ranks us below such happier lands as Israel, Mexico, Lithuania, Slovenia, and the United Arab Emirates, to mention a few. This year’s ranking was our worst since the the World Happiness Report was created in 2012. What is going on?

Joys of Finland

I think everyone should travel to Finland. I love that country. It deserves being called one of the happiest countries on earth. Over several trips when I was still working, I lived in Finland for over half a year, doing research with my friend and colleague, Professor Martti Hakumaki, at the University of Kuopio. In our spare time we enjoyed the countryside. On one memorable weekend, we fired up his smoke sauna at his summer house and spearfished in the massive lake adjoining the summer house. Click here, and here for the full stories.

On another longer trip, we drove up beyond the Arctic Circle in early summer when the sun never sets. While there we participated in a “nighttime” Reindeer Roundup. The reindeer that forage free in Finland are owned by various people. To properly identify the owner of each new generation, fawns are separated from mothers and then released one by one. When the youngsters naturally rush to their mothers, they are caught and tagged and carried to a brander who marks the calf with the brand of its mother. Martti and I were among the carriers. For more on this story click here.

Denmark

Moving on the second happiest country, I’ve probably spent a couple of months in Denmark, much of it while working in the Panum Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Again, it was remarkably pleasant. The Danish people are welcoming, their food is great, and the city is charming, but I’ll stop there so this post doesn’t stretch overly long.

Iceland

I haven’t spent a lot of time in Iceland. I’ve been there only once, thanks to my daughter’s gift. Anne took me to that enchanted land for my 90th birthday. We loved the place. In fact, I personally would rank Iceland as the happiest country. Every day we were in that country, we met people who bubbled over with joy, many of them relatively young, and a fair number that had visited from other countries and were so enthralled by the place that they had returned to take up residence.

Readers who have been following my blog for some time may recall that I wrote a day-by-day travelogue of that trip to Iceland. If you’re interested, you can find that series by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

It was a fascinating journey from when we arrived

to every day that followed.

Sweden

Sadly, I’ve visited Sweden only twice, both for stays of only a day, once traveling up to Stockholm by train and flying out, and the second arriving and leaving the capital city by ferry boats. The citizens treated me kindly. They seemed to be content. The city center was welcoming. I trust the research team rating Sweden as the fourth happiest country had far more information than I do.

United States of America

Twenty-fourth happiest country on earth? Can’t we do better?