Finland has again ranked the world’s happiest country. You might be wondering why and how could this be?

In my opinion, happiness is related to satisfaction and the ease of access to the things that are vital to living like food, house, medicine and clothing as we are taught in the early years. So, based on this, what is it like living in Finland in the eyes of a foreigner?

First, Finland is a very nice place surrounded by beautiful and natural environment. If my place in the Philippines is called ” a place where mountains meet the sea” definitely some places in Finland I can call ” a place where lakes meets the ocean” which means that you can find lakes on one side of the road and the other side the ocean-interesting isn’t it? You can visit the city of Uusikaupunki and find it all there. Now because of this, food is not a problem, however many Finns including my husband do not eat just any kinds of Fish- only the select and familiar ones. Grain is also one of the main products of Finland and you can see here the government supported big farms and grain storage facilities in many houses. In my opinion, the grain production of Finland is far more for its just over 5 million population. Being near with other European countries, it is easy to export some other food items which cant be grown all year round in the country.

Second, housing and accommodation is relative to the kind of life you have. The city dwellers pay more rent and the people in the suburbs pay less. It just depends on the kind of lifestyle you wish to have. True that in all places around the world, many are homeless and poor. In Finland, the government support its people either by providing free accommodation or a part of it. If you are a student, you pay a student accommodation price and there are student accommodations provided. Building a house of course is not cheap and those who can afford have the leisure and comfort of a designer’s house. Name it, they have it whether it be a main house or a summer house.

Third and I think one which makes Finland a much better place is the healthcare assistance offered by the government to its citizens. Of course it doesn’t mean that Finns don’t need to pay anything but there is a limit of how much they can spend for a year on medicines and the succeeding is free. Of course in Finland people pay taxes and if you intend to live and work here, you are also expected to pay your taxes and enjoy the same benefits. No one is exempted to pay taxes and there are a lot of taxes to be paid ( I will share in my next post).

Lastly, education in Finland is free to all its citizens and residents. If you are foreign student outside the EU studying in Finland, which also means that you have a student visa, you need to pay your tuition and if by chance after graduation you can get a job here, you will also get the same benefits as the residents and citizens. I will talk more about studying in Finland in my other post. So as it is said, education is free for all residents and citizens and having said this, I wanna add that you get a quality education. The schools I know are equipped with modern facilities and skills training in my opinion are the best here. I would be proud if I can have one.

There are other factors which make Finland an ideal home for some. To integrate better in the country, learning Finnish- the official language of Finland is a must. Finns speak English however the working and living environment language is Finnish. Hope this post gives you some insights if you are planning to come to Finland.