Sunday, October 19, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Finns remain the happiest people in the world

Published 21 March 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Many Finns experience a strong sense of freedom in their lives.
2 minute read

Finland has once again been named the happiest country in the world, according to a new report. The top four places in the ranking are all held by Nordic countries.

Since 2012, the World Happiness Report has measured happiness globally, based on factors such as life expectancy, corruption, GDP per capita, social support and the freedom of individuals to make their own decisions. In addition, around 1,000 participants from 140 countries rate their quality of life on a scale of 0 to 10 by answering over 100 questions.

Finland was named the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year. The report gives the country an average score of 7.736.

Denmark and Iceland ranked second and third with an average score of 7.521 and 7.515 respectively. Sweden follows in fourth place with a score of 7.345, while Norway is the lowest-ranked Nordic country at seventh place.

Strong sense of freedom

Finland’s top ranking is explained by its strong economy, well-functioning social security, good family and friendship relations, high life expectancy and low corruption.

Finns generally have a high level of trust in both the authorities and each other. In addition, many feel a strong sense of freedom, especially when it comes to life choices.

– Finnish society is very flexible when it comes to life transitions. This is one of the keys to a happy life, says University of Helsinki researcher Jennifer De Paola, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

“The word happiness confuses people”

She also points out that it is more about contentment than pure happiness.

– The use of the word happiness confuses people. We often wonder how Finns can be the happiest when they are not even smiling.

Among the countries ranked lowest in the report are Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen. Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list as the world’s least happy country.

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Finland was a European model – now homelessness is rising again

Welfare collapse

Published yesterday 14:37
– By Editorial Staff
Getting off the streets is extremely difficult once you end up there.
3 minute read

Finland has long been a model in the fight against homelessness, but now the trend is reversing.

For the first time since 2012, the number of homeless people is increasing – and street homelessness among young people is rising sharply.

Julius Virtavuori has lived without permanent housing for over two decades. When Yle (Finnish public broadcaster) meets him at the Tupa supported housing facility in Helsinki, Finland, he reflects on his situation.

— It’s quite a long time. I think these are probably the last years I’ll be in this situation. There are apartments in Finland after all.

The hardest part is the feeling of lacking goals, he tells them.

— You take one day at a time. There’s nothing to build your life on long-term. And the side effects that homelessness brings – a certain use of intoxicants. That boom is long past for me, now I just take it easy.

Successful model under pressure

Julius’s situation is not unique, but Finland has for many years worked systematically to reduce homelessness. The country has been a pioneer in Europe, primarily through the so-called “Housing First principle”.

The model means that homeless people first receive their own apartment with a rental contract, and then support services tailored to individual needs. Instead of requiring people to first solve their social or health problems to qualify for housing, the order is reversed – housing comes first. The approach has received broad international attention and shown good results.

But according to a recent report from the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (formerly ARA), the trend has been broken. For the first time since 2012, homelessness is increasing again.

At the end of 2024, 3,806 homeless people were registered in Finland. Particularly alarming is the increase in rough sleeping – people sleeping outdoors, in stairwells, or in temporary shelters. A total of 649 people lived under these conditions, which is 230 more than the previous year.

However, the figures are only indicative, as homelessness is difficult to measure exactly. A person who sleeps at an acquaintance’s place one night may be forced to sleep on the street or in a stairwell the next night.

“Very alarming”

Emergency housing units report a sharp increase in young people falling outside society’s support measures and being forced to sleep on the street.

Jussi Lehtonen, service manager at the organization Vailla vakinaista asuntoa (Without Permanent Housing), has worked with homelessness issues for over 30 years. He sees the increasing youth homelessness as particularly worrying.

— It’s very alarming, because young people have their whole lives ahead of them. It shows for years afterward if they end up in that situation. And it would be very important to get them out of that situation quickly, says Lehtonen.

He believes that homelessness is often a consequence of too few affordable homes combined with cuts in benefit systems, which has made it harder for people with small incomes to manage financially.

— Ending up on the street is harmful in many different ways. For some, homelessness becomes chronic. The social network is reformed, and you have quite a lot to do with people who are on the street. Anyone understands that’s not good, Lehtonen states.

Majority in Iceland wants to separate church and state

Published yesterday 11:31
– By Editorial Staff
Church in Hof, Iceland.
1 minute read

Just over half of Icelanders support a separation of church and state, according to a new survey from polling institute Prósent. Support is strongest in the capital region and among young voters.

In Iceland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (Þjóðkirkjan) is a state church and holds a special status under the country’s constitution. Approximately 58.6 percent of Icelanders belong to this church.

In the survey, which included 2,000 Icelanders, 52 percent stated they support a separation between church and state, while 21 percent oppose it. An additional 27 percent indicated they are neither for nor against, reports RUV, Iceland’s national broadcaster.

In the Reykjavik capital region, 58 percent support separation, compared to 39 percent in rural areas. Among the youngest respondents, support reaches 71 percent, while opinions in the oldest age group are evenly divided.

Youth unemployment edges down in Sweden

Published 15 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
At the end of September, 363,000 people were registered as unemployed in Sweden.
1 minute read

Unemployment continues to decline and stood at 6.9 percent at the end of September, according to new figures from Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service). Despite the positive trend, the unemployment level remains high compared to the previous year.

At the end of September, just over 363,000 people were registered as unemployed in Sweden. This marks the second consecutive month of declining unemployment figures. However, compared to the same period last year, unemployment has increased, the statistics show.

It is obviously gratifying that unemployment has decreased for two months in a row, but compared to a year ago, approximately 4,000 more people are registered as unemployed. The unemployment level is therefore still high, says Lars Lindvall, chief forecaster at Arbetsförmedlingen, in a press release.

A positive signal is that the number of unemployed young people continues to decrease. At the end of September, 43,554 young people between 18 and 24 years old were registered as unemployed, a decrease from 45,378 the year before.

The statistics also show that 34,668 people found employment during September, an increase from 30,462 in the same month last year. The number of redundancy notices simultaneously decreased sharply, from 7,586 to 5,057 people.

Interest in climate issues declining among young Swedish women

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published 14 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
According to a recent report, an increasing number of young women are turning away from climate alarmist issues.
2 minute read

Engagement with climate issues among young women is declining sharply, according to a recent survey. Meanwhile, issues such as healthcare, education, and crime are being prioritized increasingly higher.

A recently conducted survey reveals that young Swedish women are becoming significantly less passionate about modern left-leaning values such as climate alarmism.

According to the report Youth Focus 2025, climate issues have lost ground among Sweden’s young people. In 2019, 51 percent of young women considered climate the most important issue.

In this year’s report, the corresponding figure has dropped to 15 percent. Among young men, engagement has fallen from 34 to 13 percent.

We don’t talk much about climate, only in school, says 15-year-old Disa Magnusson in Södertälje, a city south of Stockholm, to publicly funded broadcaster SVT.

At the same time, the survey shows that young people today are more engaged in societal issues that affect their daily lives. Healthcare tops the list, followed by education and crime.

In this year’s report, we see a generation that feels concern about certain societal issues and wants to act for society’s benefit here and now, says Sofia Rasmussen, CEO of Rasmussen Analysis.

The same survey also demonstrates declining interest in feminism and gender equality among the country’s youth.

New priorities

Several of the young women who expressed themselves in the survey report that they feel greater trust in more conservative parties. Parties that profile themselves around more traditional values, with emphasis on order and security.

This is a development that could significantly impact Sweden’s future politics, especially when a generation that previously often identified with supposedly progressive left-wing values now shows a shift in interest and engagement.

Interviews with young women show that issues such as friendship, love, and high school are prioritized higher than climate.

People probably think they won’t be alive then, says Disa Magnusson about why climate issues don’t engage as much as before.

The survey demonstrates a clear shift toward issues perceived as more urgent and directly relevant in the daily lives of today’s youth.

At the same time, interest in long-term societal problems remains, but engagement has changed both in form and expression.

About the Youth Focus Survey

Youth Focus 2025, produced for the tenth consecutive year by the King's Foundation for Young Leadership (Konungens stiftelse Ungt Ledarskap) and Rasmussen Analys, aims to highlight young people's values and attitudes and to strengthen their role in society and working life.

This year's report is based on responses from 1,280 people, of which 1,018 are young people between 15–29 years old. The survey was conducted during the period May 13–20, 2025. To enable comparisons with other age groups, the survey also collected 262 responses from people born before 1995.

This makes it possible to distinguish what is unique to the younger generation from broader societal trends, while also enabling an analysis of how older respondents perceive and describe today's youth.

Source: Youth Focus 2025

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