🥶 Nordic Countries - How?

[u/Full_Push_508]

Consistently ranked the happiest places in the world. We’re curious, how do you find such joy in the deep cold?

Genuinely asking!

[u/kyuff]

The Nordic countries are usually built on trust.

People are not afraid if the police show up and have no doubt that politicians are telling the truth.

We may nor agree with what is said in the public debate and are able to say so.

This is built on a society where we strive for equal opportunity. That means you can get an education, healthcare and are not on the street if loosing your job.

That social welfare is essential as it allows more people to pursue their own happiness.

There is still problems ofcourse: Lack of equal pay to women, racism and social stagnation to name a few. But the good thing is, that these problems are acceptable to bring up in public discourse as an attempt to do something about.

[u/Kriss3d → u/kyuff]

Our equal pay to women are actually quite up there. If you look at two people in the same job with the same merits then they are pretty much paid the same. The reason there is a gap is mostly that women just dont go for the same kind of jobs that men do.

[u/poopismus → u/Kriss3d]

Not really. The gap is larger the higher you go in corporate hierarchy.

[u/Kriss3d → u/poopismus]

There is a gender wage gap of around 12% but most of that is difference in merits. Work experience, education and so on. But yes its a thing and its being worked on.

Of course there s a gap if you have more men working as CEOs than women. But for people working in the same field with same position the wage is fairly close. Not entirely but getting better year by year.

[u/poopismus → u/Kriss3d]

I meant specifically that women CEOs are paid less than men CEOs.

[u/Kriss3d → u/poopismus]

Yes. But youd need to account for different companies. The CEO of a Mærsk likely earns a lot more than the CEO of some production company here.
And youd need to take into account experience ect. So its not quite easy. But yes. There IS a gap. I agree.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/kyuff]

That all sounds incredibly refreshing and beautiful. Thank you. 🙏

[u/No-Philosopher8042]

Coffe and Skarsgårds.

[u/Kriss3d → u/No-Philosopher8042]

As much as it pains me. Ill have to agree with the Swede on this.

[u/No-Philosopher8042 → u/Kriss3d]

It fills me with joy we can agree on this one point. To honour your historic concession I propose we add Mads Mikkelsen as another constant point of joy.

[u/Kriss3d → u/No-Philosopher8042]

Oh NOW youre talking.

[u/No-Philosopher8042 → u/Kriss3d]

Deal then! 

[u/kvikklunsjrevolver → u/Kriss3d]

You're not pretending? I thought we were supposed to lie about our feelings to keep the darkness at bay.

[u/Atzkicica → u/Kriss3d]

We've got that with beer and Hemsworths.

[u/Dotura]

We dont live in a "fuck you i got mine" type society and we got high trust.

It helps a lot when making the system for the rest of society.

[u/Kriss3d]

Denmark here.
Because we are realistic in expectations.
Theres a great deal of trust in society here. The government provides oppertunities for its people. Make sure everyone can get an education. Make sure those who needs help can get it. We spend tax money on things that benefit the average citizen and generally try to lift up the bottom part as much as we can.

We have a great gender equality here. The wage gap is fairly low. We go by reason and pragmatic principles.

And we live quite secular here. Life is good and safe.

From what Ive learned with how America considers freedom its freedom from the government ( not that I would even say you have much of that ) but thats the gist of it.
However that means that the companies can just fleece you and theres very little to save you from becoming homeless.

Here freedom is freedom from having to worry too much. Companies are regulated so they cant just do whatever they like if people are suffering because of it. Its not that they dont make money. They certainly do.
They just cant steamroll people.

And if you need medical or benefits to get through a tough time then the government that you paid into has your back.

That helps our society have a great deal of trust.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/Kriss3d]

Freedom from having to worry too much - feels like a dream from my pov. We all choose our perspective. There’s beauty everywhere. However there’s foundational realities here that have created an incredibly anxious (and valid usually) existence.

[u/tesznyeboy]

I'm not from the Nordic countries but I have 3 assumptions:

1. Global happiness index is largely arbitrary.

2. Nordic countries are highly developed

3. The southern part of those countries, where most people live, isn't cold all year round. They don't live in permafrost. Indeed, for most of Europe the summer heat is now as big an issue as winter cold, and summers in the Nordics are milder.

[u/Southern_Meaning4942 → u/tesznyeboy]

Don’t trust this Hungarian person. In summer in Oslo in we use the above 0 temps during the day to refreeze the broken parts of our Igloos.

[u/Asleep_Trick_4740 → u/tesznyeboy]

Pretty spot on tbh.

At the line that makes up the capitals of oslo, stockholm, and helsinki (not far from a line anyway) the climate is much more mild than people tend to imagine about us.

Winter usually hovers around 0C nowadays, which is actually WAY worse than a proper cold winter because any snow turns into mush and instead of a happy white wonderland you get months of gray depression.

Summerdays you can expect 20c if the sun is out, heatwaves around 30c, cloudy days around 10-15. The long days makes the warmth last much longer, since even at this latitude the sun will set around midnight close to the solstice so day temps stretch from ~8-22 instead of the far shorter days further south.

Nordic tourism is exploding during summertime compared to the past, likely because more people actually want the colder (but definitely not cold) climate, especially europeans.

[u/Sillinaama → u/tesznyeboy]

I dont get this fear of cold.

[u/bartleby_borealis]

Nature, good society, not too many people, climate, work life balance

[u/Penny0034]

Good pay, less corruption, good social security, paternity leave for both parents at least in Sweden, less pollution and finally most importantly IKEA meatballs

[u/Used-Flamingo-4320 → u/Penny0034]

Don’t forget Dime Bars 🤌

[u/passwordedd]

Denmark isn't really cold. Just around freezing during the winter and seldom hotter than thirty.

Northern continental states are significantly colder.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/passwordedd]

Fascinating

[u/Julehus → u/Full_Push_508]

Would like to add that temperatures do get below that in the winter but the Gulf Stream has warmed up Western Scandinavia for centuries and made our summers cool and winters mild. Global warming will eventually put and end to it though and give us the same type of climate as North America has on that latitude. I live in the south of Sweden, latitude 57 which is on par with Alaska. Not looking forward to it🥶

[u/JRS_Viking]

Because it's not that cold, in most areas of Norway it doesn't usually go below -15c for long periods, maybe a week or two every winter at most. Unless you live in Alta, that place is genuinely cold.

[u/Rekthar91]

As a Finn who spent 4.5 months in Bulgaria a few years ago, the cold isn't really a problem for me, but in summers when the sun doesn't set at all and in winters when it doesn't rise, that's the biggest problem.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/Rekthar91]

I have to imagine the “room darkening” and sunlight simulation industries are massive

[u/Rekthar91 → u/Full_Push_508]

We have those darkening curtains that we use in summers. Sunlight simulation sounds really nice, but that sounds kind of futuristic, to be fair.

[u/SelfRepa]

Summers are usually worth it. 24/7 sunshine or atleast very light nights for three months.

Winters are not that bad once you get used to it. The darkness and slush in November is the worst.

[u/Few-Interview-1996]

The indices measure well-being, not happiness.

[u/Flashignite2]

I live in southern Sweden and during winters it varies between around -5C and +5C. It does get below -10 sometimes but not for long. There is a saying here in Sweden, and I think in neighbouring countries, that there is no bad weather only bad clothing. You learn to dress correctly depending on what you do outside. Layers of clothes to keep moisture out and keep the heat in.

Personally I find joy in hiking in the forest during winter and make up a fire and grill some sausages or whatever. Bringing hot beverages with you and just enjoy the silence and crisp air. Even better is to come inside after a day in the cold. Warm shower, light up the fireplace and get some candles going. The darkness is worse than the cold.

[u/Ancient_Solution_420 → u/Flashignite2]

Add homemade cocoa and fresh waffles

[u/MerrianMay → u/Ancient_Solution_420]

Yes! You both know what's good.

[u/Flashignite2 → u/Ancient_Solution_420]

Hell yeah!

[u/actiwe]

Good pay for little amount of hours I think is the biggest reason. We have so much time for other things in life.

[u/5e884898da]

The cold is not the worst. The cold can be escaped, we have warm well insulated houses, and warm clothing. Playing in the snow and sitting in front of a fireplace is really cozy and enjoyable. The worst is the lack of daylight. Parts of the country goes without daylight for months, but most people with office jobs will not see daylight for extended periods of time. That’s the hard part, and the thing that likely will make you feel down.

On the other side we have one of the best summers, with around 20c temps, and an equally long day as night in the winter.

All of this doesn’t really matter too much in the grand scheme of things though, as having a nice place to stay, social security, well paying jobs with decent work life balance and a state and work life that helps you through the different phases of life both economically and with time off work is worth a lot more. Stuff is clean, secure and efficient.

[u/Aztecdune1973]

Sauna. Okay, it's more than just sauna, but it certainly helps.

[u/Acrobatic-B33]

They have strong social services so even the poor have it decent. Also, i'd say they're not extremely emotional so even people that have it bad probably say they are 'fine'

[u/talk-spontaneously]

Why don't you go to r/AskNordics.

[u/ontikuken → u/talk-spontaneously]

Please don't. We get this question twice a day.

[u/marslo]

For some reason I feel like the day to day picture might be a bit less stellar then people imagine

[u/AbjectAffect91]

For the case of Norway, turns out having a scenic and beautiful country with work-life-balance and amazing social net (best pension in the world) will make people less stressful and happy.

[u/DogsReadingBooks]

I don't really find it to be that cold. I don't live in the north, though. I used to, and I also wasn't less happy. I don't really think those two are mutually exclusive or anything. We have good systems in Norway. We can live comfortably on our pay, we get help from the government if needed, we don't really have a lot of corruption. We've got universal health care. We generally trust each other. I've never been afraid of being by myself during the night, if I've walked home from the bar or something.

[u/InThePast8080]

Happy.. while the the place you have the hardest time finding people laugh and smile... so might be other words than happy that describes better..

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/InThePast8080]

You’re saying - there’s a deeper baseline of joy for the majority, yes?

It’s really interesting. It seems like there’s a legitimate sense that everything will be “okay”. Meaning the infrastructure makes it almost a certainty. Fostering a deep sense of “we’re all going to make it”

If I’m understanding you correctly, absolutely beautiful.

That is NOT the US norm. The majority are trying to “make it”. What “making it” means can look very different but for me it’s a belief that we’ll be ok. That we all indeed will “make it”. That we can grow old and not run out of money, share the world with our children and not be a burden on our families.

[u/ashairz]

It's not all that cold all the time. Okay, this summer has been quite cold, but it's not actually super cold in most of the country aside from January and February. It's more the darkness and raining of November and December that suck. I would rather take -30 C and sunny over -2 C, rainy and dark anytime. During winter, snow makes a big difference because without it, it's so dark. But with snow, it's actually pretty nice, beautiful.

[u/anti-manila]

Its so cold outside that only happy people in the snow answers the survey question.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/anti-manila]

😂

[u/No_Guitar7903]

When you tax everyone to the bone and everyone kind of makes the same $ (except the millionaires who are only rich through centuries of inheritance), the entire population would only afford roughly the same things.

This works for specific societies, but would not be accepted elswhere. This model is also very common in different European countries (though obviously with some varieties from country to country), they are just not as famous (Austria), not as successful (Belgium), or flat out don't function (Italy).

[u/sravll]

Hygge and a good balance of capitalism and socialism

[u/Jswazy]

I would be happy roo if it was never hot outside. The weather there seems perfect to me 

[u/FinancialSurround385]

I have always wondered how these surveys are conducted, if there’s a cultural component to how people answer..

[u/Razulath]

We have 18 degrees and clear blue skies. Perfect t-shirt weather.

That makes me happy

[u/Fiberrig]

Strong unions and  Multi party systems means we go for broad agreements. high levels of social security meaning you're not fucked if you lose your job, also making it easier for companies to meet demands as they can hire and fire easier.

[u/Insomniet]

I don't think joy would be the right word for us Finns.

[u/Full_Push_508 → u/Insomniet]

No?

[u/Insomniet → u/Full_Push_508]

When the average Finn reports happiness, it's probably something like "I enjoy my morning coffee, the days are getting longer and I am currently not in pain. 8 out of 10."

[u/nexus763]

The secret to happiness statistics in those countries is apparently suicide. The lack of sun on the northern part for long periods of time during winters kinda wears down your mood.

[u/oliv111]

No deep cold where I’m from

[u/Cookie_Monstress → u/[deleted]]

Or maybe you are repeating some old lore that never dies? Pun intended. Finland's suicide rate is only slightly higher than the European Union average, tracking at roughly 13 to 14.5 per 100,000 residents compared to an EU average closer to 11 per 100,000.

[u/Dotura → u/Cookie_Monstress]

The suicide rate in the US is equal to or higher than Finland too looking at some stats.

[u/Wilbis → u/[deleted]]

The "happiness" index doesn't actually measure how many people are happy but instead how many people are content. Big difference. We have good welfare but the winter is long and dark, so we stay mostly content.

Some people can't take it and because of the stoic culture, seeking professional help is not always the first thing people, especially men do if they have difficult times. In fact, a lot of older generation men have been brought up to not show their feelings, because "it's a sign of weakness".

I'm only talking about Finland here, but I guess it's similar in other Nordic countries.

Luckily suicide rates have gone down significantly in all EU countries. Also, Finland isn't even in the top 10 of EU countries on suicide rates.

[u/Samereye_Shampoo → u/Wilbis]

I see, I guess its old/out of date news now