Finnish, a country with about 5,5 million people, is known for its lush nature full of lakes and forests, sauna enjoyment and polar lights. Despite the long and harsh winter, this country – that is, its people – counts the happiest in the world, DW reports.
We want to learn something about this from Lena Salmi, the official "happiness ambassador" hired by the Finnish Tourist Board.
Salmi comes with a skateboard, actually two – one is for the reporter. This former sports journalist is active in her seventh decade. He is engaged in swimming, climbing, in recent years and skateboarding.
We ask her what is the recipe for happiness? "Don't care what others think. Do what interests you. If it doesn't work, who cares? Try something else," says Salmi.
"Especially if you're older, don't sit on the couch." Go outside,” she adds.
Excellent living conditions
Every year, the United Nations publishes the World Happiness Report based on interviews with people. Criteria are living conditions and positive and negative feelings.
Finland leads the way in terms of living conditions. Incomes are good, the social network is strong, there is little corruption, and many civil liberties. People have a lot of trust in institutions.
Tero Kuitunen, also one of the five ambassadors of happiness, deals with design. He welcomes you in the studio where he kneads "ceramic sausages" from clay. "It's one of my most popular products," he says of the ornament.
His task is to show how to live in Finland. Design is of great importance here. Tero loves his job, not only because of the aesthetics.
"Working with ceramics is meditative. You're focused, you're not on the internet, you're not reading the news, and you're only thinking about what you're doing with your hands. It can also be cooking, knitting... you make something from scratch to the end. It fulfills me, at least," he says.
What is "Sisu"?
Maybe the secret is in the mentality of Finns. "Yes, we call it Sisa," says a passerby in Helsinki. "Don't give up, but always keep going and believe that everything will be fine."
"Sisu" is an untranslatable word. It means approximately "strength", but also "persistence", "endurance", "steadiness" and "courage". This is how many Finns describe the national character.
Another passer-by quotes the famous Finnish Formula 1 driver Mika Hakkinen: "You need balls to go into a corner at high speed."
One woman has a different explanation for "Sisa": "It's the mentality to persevere in what you set out to do, no matter what happens around you.
Finland is followed by Denmark and Iceland on the list of the happiest. At the bottom, out of 137 countries, are Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Serbia is in 37th place.
