Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 7) — For six years now, Finland has been named the happiest country on Earth based on the World Happiness Survey.
Finnish Ambassador to the Philippines Juha Markus Pyykkö shared some of the reasons why the European country constantly lands in the happiness index — and it’s not always about having fun or laughing out loud.
“For us, happiness is more like being content with one’s life,” Pyykkö said.
The envoy added that Finland has also set up a so-called infrastructure of happiness, which primarily involves excellent social services that adds to the quality of life of citizens.
“Gloriously a well-functioning society with free high quality education and health care, long life expectancy, limited corruption,” the ambassador said.
“Equality, social mobility, freedom, social security, nature, and trust, trust amongst the population and trust towards socialism institutions,” he added.
The envoy shared that like Filipinos, Finnish people do not necessarily like paying taxes.
“We don’t love taxes in Finland, but we’d love to pay them because we can trust that the tax money is used wisely. We get a lot in return,” he said.
“This trust is a kind of a glue in keeping our society together,” the envoy added.
Taguig City on Wednesday hosted a celebration of Finland’s 106th Independence Day.
