- Finland is paying for people to visit the country so they can learn how to be happy.
- The Visit Finland organization will fly 14 people to the country's lake district for a masterclass.
Finland is paying for people to visit the country so they can learn how to be happy.
The country's happiness masterclass, run by the Visit Finland organization, takes place in the scenic lake district at the Kuru Resort next month. The organizers decided to share some of the country's secrets to happiness after it celebrated its sixth consecutive year at the top of the World Happiness Report.
In 2023, the Nordic country topped the rankings with a score that was "significantly ahead of all other countries," according to the World Happiness Report. The report was published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, but written by a team of independent experts and relied heavily on Gallup World survey data that measures life evaluations.
Visit Finland plans to cover all travel and accommodation expenses, including a private room and access to a traditional Finnish sauna and spa.
"It's about sharing our culture, our way of life," Heli Jimenez, one of the course organizers, told Insider. "The better word for it in our mind would be content rather than happy — because we are satisfied with our lives."
Jimenez said Nordic countries, and especially Finland, benefit from an "infrastructure of happiness," such as safety networks, strong welfare systems, work and life balance, and a connection to nature.
"Everybody's not happy 100% of the time. But we have certain securities that give us room to do different things," she said.
The masterclass is separated by theme each day and includes topics such as pure food, everyday design, nature, and, health and wellbeing.
April Rinne, who is half-Finnish but based in Portland, is one of the masterclass coaches working on the health and wellbeing days. She said the experience will be a unique one for her because of the time spent working in forests.
"You don't get many opportunities to spend a day in nature teaching," she said. "We'll be doing a little bit of reflection, a little bit of group discussion, and we'll be doing a series of activities in nature."
"It's really about increasing our self-awareness," she added.
For Rinne, Finnish happiness comes from a society that knows how to be content with what it has.
"This is a society that is not about the quest for more at all costs," she said. "It's not about more money in your bank account, more success, more meetings in your day, or being more productive."
"That's one of the things we'll be teasing out during the masterclass, another is the role of trust," she said.
Visit Finland's happiness masterclass has received a flood of interest, organizers say. It even made it onto Kourtney Kardashian's Instagram story.
Jimenez said the course was originally due to take 10 candidates. But after receiving more than 150,000 applications for the first stage of the competition and a further 20,000 for the second, they had to up the limit to allow the inclusion of four more guests.
The applicants came from 190 countries and the finalists include three visitors from the US.