Ambassador says Finland's free education, health care and high trust underpin its global top ranking for happiness
March 13, 2026 | Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Senate Committees, U.S. Senate, Legislative, Federal
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The Finnish Ambassador to the United States, Lena Kaissa Makela, told a U.S. senator that Finland's social systems'from free education to constitutionally guaranteed public health care'help explain why Finland has topped the World Happiness Report for eight straight years.
Makela said the survey measures life satisfaction, trust and well-being across 140 countries and reflects services Finns rely on. "We have good public services, we trust each other," she said, adding that trust and well-being are reinforced by programs that "guarantee fair treatment and equality for our citizens."
Why Finns accept higher taxes to fund those services, Makela said, is partly cultural. "A survey I read when preparing for our discussion" shows that about "93% of Finns consider paying the taxes we pay as an important civic duty," she said. The ambassador framed taxation as an exchange: citizens pay taxes and receive education, health care and pension guarantees in return.
On education, Makela said schooling is free through university; about half of young people choose vocational education, and the system supports transitions into work and family life without the large student debt burdens common in the United States. "Wherever your child is studying you get a good decent education," she said, describing nationwide consistency of outcomes.
Makela described Finland's pension system as twofold: earnings-based contributions paid by employers and employees, and a national pension that guarantees a basic safety net for people without long work histories. She described the overall level as "okay" rather than "overly generous," linked to other social benefits such as housing supports.
The senator cited comparative health-spending figures, saying U.S. per-capita health spending exceeds $15,000 while Finland's is "like $5,400." Makela credited Finland's universal, constitutionally backed public system and a long-standing emphasis on preventive care, especially maternity and child health, for delivering relative efficiency. She cautioned that Finland's smaller population (about 5.6 million, she noted) affects scale and that the national economy is currently under strain.
The ambassador closed by saying Finland's social arrangements are rooted in historical choices and a Nordic model of social cohesion, and she welcomed Americans to visit Finland to see those systems firsthand.
Makela said the survey measures life satisfaction, trust and well-being across 140 countries and reflects services Finns rely on. "We have good public services, we trust each other," she said, adding that trust and well-being are reinforced by programs that "guarantee fair treatment and equality for our citizens."
Why Finns accept higher taxes to fund those services, Makela said, is partly cultural. "A survey I read when preparing for our discussion" shows that about "93% of Finns consider paying the taxes we pay as an important civic duty," she said. The ambassador framed taxation as an exchange: citizens pay taxes and receive education, health care and pension guarantees in return.
On education, Makela said schooling is free through university; about half of young people choose vocational education, and the system supports transitions into work and family life without the large student debt burdens common in the United States. "Wherever your child is studying you get a good decent education," she said, describing nationwide consistency of outcomes.
Makela described Finland's pension system as twofold: earnings-based contributions paid by employers and employees, and a national pension that guarantees a basic safety net for people without long work histories. She described the overall level as "okay" rather than "overly generous," linked to other social benefits such as housing supports.
The senator cited comparative health-spending figures, saying U.S. per-capita health spending exceeds $15,000 while Finland's is "like $5,400." Makela credited Finland's universal, constitutionally backed public system and a long-standing emphasis on preventive care, especially maternity and child health, for delivering relative efficiency. She cautioned that Finland's smaller population (about 5.6 million, she noted) affects scale and that the national economy is currently under strain.
The ambassador closed by saying Finland's social arrangements are rooted in historical choices and a Nordic model of social cohesion, and she welcomed Americans to visit Finland to see those systems firsthand.
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