What do Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden have in common?

Well, there are many answers to that. First, they rank from first to fourth in the annual UN-Backed world-happiness-report-2025.pdf

Of course, they all get very cold but seem to get joy from winter activities. Second, they have very enlightened policies on Indigenous people and Sami and other groups wander across borders. The education systems are robust and Finland has probably the best musical education for children in the world.

Third, none of them seem to have drunk the neo-liberal Kool Aid which captivated Reagan, Thatcher and Howard and a few non-Tory PMs such as Blair and Keating.

Norway is also a stark reminder of what Australia could be if it had followed the Norwegian sovereign wealth policy of extracting benefit from the exploitation of resources. Our Future Fund is a minnow while Norway’s is a whale. Miners and others in Australia reap massive profits while paying insignificant taxes.

Iceland lives with volcanic eruptions but has the cheapest energy in the world thanks to tapping into thermal energy. Our version of this Icelandic success would be utilising our abundant sunshine – which is only getting hotter ever year – to power our future.

Admittedly Denmark, while still ranked second in the happiness listings has seen a 4.3% decline since 2012 but that is relatively little given its starting position. Australia, in contrast, ranks 11^th and has seen its happiness rating has falling by 5.1% since 2012. The Netherlands ranks fifth.

Others in the top 10 are (in order) Netherlands (perhaps demonstrating the value of all that pot smoked in Amsterdam), Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg and Mexico. What the next report on Israel will demonstrate will be interesting.

There are also some surprising (or perhaps not so surprising) rankings down the list. The US ranks 24^th and levels of happiness there have fallen by 7.5% since 2012.

Belize and Poland have got happier although how that will play out in the near future given the inevitable conflicts between the Prime Minister and the new President. The Taiwanese are apparently not that worried about China as their happiness has increased by 11.4% since 2012.

Countries which have seen falls in happiness are Ireland, Austria, Canada (that awful neighbour from hell may have something to do with that), United Arab Emirates and Britain.

Another indicator of how countries are travelling is the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) produced by the UN. The leaders here are (in order) Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Singapore and Britain.

The attitudes a to cities partly mirror that of other indicators. The latest EIU (The Economist) ratings of the most liveable cities are (in order) Copenhagen, Vienna and Zurich equal second, Melbourne, Geneva, Sydney and Osaka. Vienna is traditionally out in front as first partly because of culture but also because of the huge success of its public housing policies – policies which date back to before WWII.

And if you are into misery tourism the least liveable cities in the ratings are (in order) Caracas, Kyiv, Port Moresby, Harare, Lagos, Algiers and Karachi.

The World Happiness Report 2025 report also looked at a variety of factors influencing levels of happiness. On the negative side of ledger, for instance, people are too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities. For instance, the return rate of lost wallets is far more common than people expected.

Another indicator reprises the bowling alone thesis and how sharing meals has a strong impact on subjective well-being. A quarter of Americans report eating of all meals alone the previous day – an increase of 53% since 2003. This has become more prevalent among the young.

Trends towards increased loneliness are most evident among young people. In 2023 19% of young adults across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support.

The deaths of despair, a concept developed by the Nobel winner Angus Deaton, are discussed in the report’s finding that such deaths are declining in the majority of countries although not in the United States or Korea.

The report also has one very profound finding for the state of politics. It found that the degree of benevolence in a country has a profound impact on its politics. Populism, it says, is largely due to unhappiness although whether populists are on the left or right depends on trust. People who trust others veer left while those do who do not veer right.