NBC News: What the world’s happiest country can teach Americans

Last week, on the International Day of Happiness on March 20th, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in partnership with the Ernesto Illy Foundation, released its annual World Happiness Report 2019.

Proudly (as a company founded in Tampere, Finland), Finland came in at number one for the second year in a row, followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Netherlands.

NBC News reporter Nicole Spector, in her piece on What the world’s happiest country can teach Americans, interviewed our very own CEO and founder Heikki Väänänen to discuss his opinions on why Finland is so happy.

In Finland people are always outdoors interacting — even in bad weather. “If you wait for great weather, you’ll often be waiting for a long time,” says Väänänen.

Alongside other “happiness” experts such as Catherine Shea, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon University, Dan Buettner, author, educator and explorer who discovered the Blue Zones, and Katja Pantzar, the Helsinki-based author of “The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu”, Väänänen also tells about the significance of independence on happiness:

“We usually walk, bike or take the bus, though some of us drive. Since kids go to school and off to hobbies on their own, and are very independent, we don’t worry about dropping them off or picking them up. Parents don’t worry something scary will happen. Independence is a big part of our happiness.”

To read the full article, visit NBC News website here: What the world’s happiest country can teach Americans