Finland has once again won as the happiest country
on the planet according to the World Happiness Report.
This is now the sixth year in a row that Finland has won the honor, and
once you get into the policies that have been implemented in Finland,
you can understand.
Now, Nordic countries tend to do real well.
People be real happy in these Nordic countries according to
the Annual World Happiness Report.
So let's get into it.
Let's get to the details.
Now, before we get to Finland specifically,
let's talk about how the World Happiness Report works.
It's a survey that's published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
They take survey data from the Gallup World Poll in which respondents
rank their life satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 10.
The researchers then use that data to explain what makes some countries
happy and some countries sad.
Okay, so here's what they came up with, let's watch.
>> Explanatory factors that help explain
the different levels of happiness between countries.
Fast up is social support.
In order to feel secure,
people need to feel that at least one person would care for them when in need.
This is the number one predictor of happiness and well being.
Next up is GDP per capita or how much each country
produces divided by the number of people in the country.
Healthy life expectancy is next on the list.
We look at physical and mental health.
Freedom to make life choices plays a key role in people's happiness.
Generosity is measured by looking at how charitable people are.
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The final variable is an absence of corruption.
This looks at both governments and businesses.
>> Absence of corruption.
Something that the United States unfortunately does not experience these
days, corruption is baked into our system,
which I'm sure Jake is gonna have a lot to say about in just a moment.
But the top five happiest countries in this year's survey,
as I mentioned earlier, Finland came in at number one, then you have Denmark,
Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands.
>> You know what the uniting factor of all those five countries are?
They are all socialists.
So now it's a mixed economy like we're a mixed economy, but they lean more to
the left, more towards social services, which gives them the cushion to
be able to feel safe enough, secure enough that they could participate.
I thought the most critical of all of those was the freedom to make life
choices.
>> Yes.
>> So and that it kind of applies to almost all the categories except the last
one which is saying, hey, do I have a safety net here.
Am I safe enough to be able to make a choice that I love, a choice that I enjoy?
It's,- >> Economic freedom
>> Yeah and it doesn't mean you don't
have to work.
It doesn't mean you're lazy.
It just means maybe you could do something you love, maybe you could do,
maybe you can get a little bit of a break when you have a baby.
Maybe you won't die with when you get sick because the government actually
protects you.
So is it surprising that that would make you more happy?
Of course not, that's the most logical thing in the world but as you know,
we're gonna discuss here in America, we live under corporate rule and corporations
don't give a damn if you're happy, they only care about their bottom line.
So the less they pay you, and unless they pay the government for
that social safety net, the more profit they make.
So they've sacrificed American citizens for their profits,
these countries that don't do that have incredibly happy citizens.
It's not at all a coincidence,.
>> Right, so to me it's two different types of freedoms that I think
are generally well represented in the top performing countries here and
that's economic freedom and also social freedom, right?
Social freedom meaning if you're a woman,
you get to make decisions about your own body,
something that's been stripped of women here in the United States in recent years.
By the way the United States if you're wondering where we rank,
we're not in the top five, clearly, we're not even in the top ten.
We rank at 15.
We come in 15th.
>> Even though we're by far the richest.
>> Right.
Exactly.
Now, why are people in Finland so happy?
Why are people in Lebanon and Afghanistan so unhappy?
In fact, Lebanon and Afghanistan happened to be the unhappiest countries.
I mean, I don't think we really need to get into that.
We know why, but let's get to Finland and why they're happy.
They have extensive welfare benefits, low levels of corruption,
a well functioning democracy and instilled sense of freedom and autonomy.
So it's progressive taxation and wealth distribution has allowed for
a flourishing universal healthcare system and
staggeringly more than 80% of Finns trust their police force.
Can you imagine that?
>> Wow >> Which is far more than many other
countries can claim.
Everybody has access to the basics, said a communications coordinator in Finland and
a mother of two.
She's talking about guaranteed healthcare, tuition-free school,
a living wage and affordable housing.
These programs are well thought out and work, so
that's the basic foundation for you to be happy.
Now it's really interesting because in the context of the United States,
the conservative argument or the conservative response to lower birth rates
or couples deciding not to have children is, they're entitled,
they're lazy, they're selfish.
This is moral decline.
The decline of the nuclear family, when in reality,
there is no support system for parents in this country.
It is so incredibly difficult to be a parent who needs to provide childcare in
order to go to work but childcare is astronomical.
You get no help from the government.
You get what I'm saying so if the genuine sincere project for the right wing
in America is to increase birth rates, a great way to do it is to actually be
supportive of a robust social safety net and provide things like paid family leave.
So people don't feel like they would put themselves in an unstable economic
position if they had children.
>> Yeah so look,
Israel is an interesting case in there because a lot of people in America they
use code words when they talk about how well off the Nordic countries are.
Not in terms of wealth, again we're way richer than they are, okay?
But in terms of happiness and satisfaction with their government, their police force,
etcetera, they go they have a homogeneous culture.
What they're trying to say is, they're white Christians and only white Christians
and that's why they're so happy and- >> That's what they say.
>> That's what they say every time.
Yeah, I know.
So I decipher that code for you.
Okay. So Israel,
of course not Christian Jewish and much more militaristic society.
So it is totally different in that sense from the other countries.
By the way, other social countries like Taiwan also pull really well,
even though they're don't have the same level of income and
are not at all white and are not Christian etcetera, generally speaking.
Right. So they don't feel any of those
categories.
So Israel is pretty right wing on foreign policy, but
on domestic policy has almost the same things as Finland does as,
as Norway does etcetera, they have universal healthcare,
we fund their military being right wing while we don't even have universal
health care here, they're much more liberal on social policies in Israel.
And that is why there population is generally happy.
Looks super easy to understand the difference between me and my dad.
My dad grew, grows up super poor as a, as a farmer in Turkey.
They just don't have a safety net.
Nothing, right.
Their family has no money.
The government doesn't, didn't have much money back then.
And so my dad has been stressed his whole life because he had the responsibility of
carrying the load for the whole family all on his shoulders.
And if he trips once we're ruined, right.
And so that creates incredible stuff.
Me, I have the safety of my dad.
My dad is amazing and he provided for all of us and he's a giant safety net and
saved my life and gave me this great life.
Let me live the American dream.
I'm much happier.
I don't live under that stress.
Very easy to understand.
The only reason why it isn't already crystal clear to every American is because
we also have a corporate media here who tells you.
No, corporate rule was great status quo was terrific.
You're not supposed to have free healthcare like Finley And
in all other developed countries in Canada and Japan.
Yeah, we can't pay for that.
Military weapons that Lockheed Martin gets.
We need that super expensive drugs that cost 20 times any what they call cost
anywhere.
So we need that.
We gotta pay for that.
So our media brainwashes us into compliance when we should be
the happiest schedule.
We have more but we have more opportunity to provide for our citizens.
And the last thing is on corruption real quick.
Look guys that goes to not freedom and safety and security, it goes to fairness.
And so America unfortunately has become the single most corrupt country in the,
in the world because we legalized bribery.
We said no, you can give millions of politicians.
So one example out of many, out of thousands of thousands,
Sheldon Adelson gave $100 million to Republicans in three different
elections twice to Donald Trump $100 million.
And then Donald Trump and the Democrats sued to gave him exactly what he
wanted because who wouldn't give somebody what they want for $100 million?
It's obvious brazen bribery worse than Afghanistan, right.
So how can we think it's fair system?
And that bothers humans when there's injustice?
That's why it's no justice, no peace because we don't feel peace.
So America can do a lot better.
We gotta do a lot better.
And the good news is we have a model that works.
We should look to copy some of that.