The Cantril Ladder asks individuals to rate their life from 0 (worst) to 10 (best) to measure life satisfaction. The World Happiness Report uses that single question with roughly 1,000 representative respondents per country to rank national happiness. Finland has held the top spot for eight consecutive years and showed higher happiness even during the peak COVID years. The United States fell to 24th in life satisfaction in 2025. Finland's tourist board has begun to leverage the ranking by inviting non-Finns to participate in a Happiness Masterclass in 2023 and 2024. Media attention intensifies as many countries report sourer public sentiment.
It goes like this: Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you, and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?
This single, carefully calibrated inquiry is how the World Happiness Report-the annual, much-covered study run by academics at Oxford University, among others-ranks every country in the world on professed happiness. Around 1,000 people from each country, across a spread of representative demographics, by phone or in person, contribute to the study each year. And lately, each year, there is the same result.
That's probably why, whenever the World Happiness Report comes out, the media around the globe pore over it. But what has changed in the past few years is that Finland has begun to try to capitalize on this accolade. In 2023 and 2024, the tourist board, Visit Finland, invited 14 non-Finns to come to the country and undertake a " Happiness Masterclass
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