What Finland Can Teach New Zealand About Becoming Happier

Finland has things to teach New Zealand

No excuse, just opportunities to take… or not.

Each year, when the World Happiness Report is released, Finland sits comfortably at the top. For the past several years, this small Nordic nation of 5.5 million has been ranked the happiest country in the world. To outsiders, it seems almost paradoxical - a country of long, dark winters and modest wealth, consistently outshining sunnier, richer nations. Yet, beneath the snow and silence lies a story of resilience, cooperation and a social fabric woven with trust.

New Zealand, by contrast, has often been ranked highly in global surveys of quality of life and natural beauty, but in recent years, many here have felt that we are slipping into a place of fear and fragmentation. We face housing crises, widening inequality, struggles with mental health and an undercurrent of anxiety about our collective direction. But Finland’s story offers hope - it shows that no country is destined to remain stuck. Through deliberate choices, even nations burdened by history and hardship can cultivate wellbeing.

So how did Finland get there and what might it mean for New Zealand if we dared not just to follow, but to go further?

From Struggle to Renewal - Finland’s Journey and Ours

Finland’s modern happiness is built on the rubble of conflict. It emerged from civil war, fought two devastating wars with the Soviet Union and carried the heavy burden of reparations while modernising a fragile economy. Out of this came a culture of pragmatism and cooperation. Trust was not a luxury - it was a survival mechanism.

New Zealand’s story is different but parallel. We too have faced deep wounds - the legacy of colonisation, economic upheavals in the 1980s and more recently the pressures of globalisation and climate vulnerability.

Unlike Finland, we did not have to rebuild cities flattened by war, but we have had to rebuild trust in institutions, heal from historical injustices and find ways to reconcile Māori and Pākehā visions of the future. Our challenge, like Finland’s, is to turn hardship into cohesion rather than division.

The Social Contract - Could We Do It Better?

Finland’s leap forward came in the 1970s, when it made a decisive choice to invest in education, healthcare and welfare as the cornerstones of society. Every child gained access to high-quality schools. Healthcare became universal. Families were supported with generous parental leave and affordable childcare.

In New Zealand, we pride ourselves on our “fair go” ethos, but cracks are widening. Inequality has grown and for too many whānau, the basics - a warm home, timely healthcare, a secure job, feel out of reach. Our education system, once celebrated, now struggles with inequities and outcomes that vary sharply by region and background.

The question for us is not whether we could replicate Finland’s investments, but whether we could surpass them. With our size, our wealth of natural resources and our bicultural foundations, could we build a system that honours both equity and cultural identity? Could we design an education model rooted not just in fairness but also in the richness of te ao Māori and Pacific worldviews?

Trust as a National Asset

In Finland, trust is a kind of invisible currency. Institutions are transparent. Leaders are accountable. Corruption is low. Lost wallets are returned with money still inside. This doesn’t mean Finns are naïve. It means they have worked intentionally to build a society where fairness is the norm.

Here in New Zealand, trust is fragile. Public confidence in politics, housing policy and even basic services is wavering. Yet we too have traditions of social trust - neighbourly networks, marae that care for communities, volunteers who mobilise after natural disasters.

The challenge is to lift this grassroots trust into the national sphere. Could we imagine a political culture where accountability is a given, where honesty is rewarded rather than spun, where everyday people feel confident their voices are heard?

Culture, Nature and Balance

Finnish culture embraces sisu - grit and resilience in the face of adversity and balances it with joy in simple things - saunas, lakes, forests and unhurried weekends. Happiness there isn’t about wealth but about balance.

New Zealand already has extraordinary gifts of nature - mountains, coasts and forests that are woven into our identity. But where Finland has normalised balance, we often lurch between overwork and burnout. We promote ourselves as “clean and green,” but many of us struggle to find time to connect with nature, or live in environments threatened by pollution and climate change.

Could we reclaim balance as a cultural value? Could we normalise shorter working weeks, outdoor living as part of everyday life and a slower, more intentional rhythm that honours both productivity and wellbeing?

Freedom and Security - The Finnish Formula

In Finland, people feel free to make life choices because strong safety nets catch them when they fall. They can change careers without fear of financial ruin, raise children without crippling debt and take risks knowing society won’t punish them harshly for setbacks.

In New Zealand, freedom often feels constrained by insecurity. Housing precarity, rising living costs and underfunded healthcare limit choice for many. True freedom isn’t just about having options - it’s about having the security to pursue them.

If Finland can build that sense of freedom out of hardship, why not us? Could New Zealand lead the way in designing safety nets that aren’t just adequate, but world-leading - systems that lift people up rather than patch holes when they fall?

Toward a Happier Aotearoa

Finland’s story is not a fairy tale. It is a record of deliberate choices, sometimes made in the hardest of circumstances and therein lies the hope for New Zealand. We are not condemned to drift into greater fear, inequality and sadness. We can make different choices.

We can invest in education and healthcare not as expenses but as foundations of our future. We can build trust into the bones of our democracy. We can reclaim balance, cherish our environment and design a society where freedom is real because security is shared.

Perhaps we don’t just have to follow Finland. Perhaps we can learn from its story, then go further. With our diversity, our bicultural promise, and our spirit of innovation, we could create a uniquely New Zealand model of happiness - one that blends equity with cultural richness, resilience with compassion and global lessons with local wisdom.

Finland shows us what is possible. New Zealand must now decide - will we accept decline as our destiny, or will we choose, deliberately and courageously, to become one of the happiest nations in the world?

If you’d like to share your thoughts or discuss further, feel free to reach out. I’d love to hear from you. +64 275 665 682 john.luxton@regenerationhq.co.nz