Its national assembly became the world’s first parliament to adopt full gender equality, granting men and women the right not only to vote but also to stand for election in 1906. The Nordic countries in general pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but there is wide public support for that because people see them as investments in quality of life for all. Free healthcare and university education goes a long way when it comes to happiness.
Finland is a parliamentary republic and the Prime Minister is the head of the government. The political leaders in Finland are perceived to have a strong commitment against corruption and typically ranks in the top 5 least corrupt countries. Finland government also maintains a much transparent mechanism and efficient integrity systems. The independent judiciary and strong legal framework also lower the chances of different forms of corruption in the country. Finland has a high gun ownership rate and low crime rate, and has banned fluoridation of drinking water.
According to the Finland Corruption Report, corruption does not significantly impact businesses operating in Finland. The Finnish regulatory system is transparent, and administrative corruption is almost non-existent. The Criminal Code contains provisions against active and passive bribery, embezzlement, fraud and abuse of office, and persons and companies can be held liable for offenses. Facilitation payments are prohibited, while the propriety of gifts and hospitality depends on their value, the intent and the potential benefit obtained. The anti-corruption framework is generally well-enforced, but Finland has been criticized for not adequately investigating and prosecuting foreign bribery. Corruption is limited due to an administrative culture of transparency and openness, a strong system of internal and external controls, and the involvement of civil society in the management of public affairs. Isolated incidents of corruption and favoritism do occur, primarily at the local level, where the interests of businesses and local politicians are sometimes improperly linked in so-called ‘old-boys networks’.
Refinery 29 asked a woman who’s been living there for six years, 29-year-old Penny Polak, a marketing specialist and beauty blogger, to lift the lid on the country’s secrets to a happy life.
For quality of life, I’m not at all surprised that Finland would rank at the top of the list, the healthcare system is great, education is free, you get five weeks of paid holiday every year, sick leave is paid, maternity leave is guaranteed and paternity leave is encouraged.”
Finland is the only country in the developed world where dads spend more time with their school-age kids than mums, according to a recent report from the OECD. Men spend eight minutes more with their school-aged offspring each day than women. The country has also made huge leaps in recent years towards tackling homelessness, which highlights where its priorities lie.
It’s rare to hear about someone trying to ‘play the system’ or using state resources without any intention of eventually finding a job or a way to provide for themselves,” says Polak. “I see the welfare state as a safety net – it’s great to have in case I fall, and I know that I can take those career risks without worrying about being a burden on my family or falling through the cracks and finding myself in a compromised situation.”
Far from a “nanny state” creating dependency among the population, Polak believes state assistance makes the Finnish population more independent, “because they have the freedom to go after what they want without fearing they’ll end up on the streets if they fail and lose everything.”
She continues: “I feel like I have a lot of opportunity and it’s up to me to create a happy life for myself. I don’t see a lot of obstacles in the way of that and feel that I have the resources to create a life I want.”
As Polak says, all schools are free, which also partly explains why many Finns believe the sky’s the limit. Schools aren’t allowed to charge fees and there are no private universities, so there’s an egalitarian atmosphere when it comes to education and people feel they can achieve regardless of their background.
Finland therefore offers its population – and expats – a pretty sweet deal when it comes to tertiary education. Tuition fees don’t exist, which will be a novel concept for anyone from the UK or US. Polak originally moved there to complete a (free) master’s degree and was even given a monthly living stipend of €560 for the privilege.
“People are happy to pay their way”
Why Finland has the best schools
Finland has a history of producing the highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a trophy case full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most literate nation. In Finland, children don’t receive formal academic training until the age of 7. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs, games and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the youngest. School hours are short and homework is generally light. Unlike in the United States, where many schools are slashing recess, schoolchildren in Finland have a mandatory 15-minute outdoor free-play break every hour of every day. Fresh air, nature and regular physical activity breaks are considered engines of learning. One evening, I asked my son what he did for gym that day. “They sent us into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out,” he said. In Finland teachers are the most trusted and admired professionals next to doctors. “Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians,” one Finnish childhood education professor told me. “We also have an ethical and moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building.” Skeptics might claim that the Finnish model would never work in America’s inner-city schools. But what if the opposite is true? What if high-poverty students are the children most urgently in need of the benefits that, for example, American parents of means obtain for their children in private schools, things that Finland delivers on a national public scale.
Source: LA Times
Like the rest of Scandinavia, Finland has high levels of taxation but people generally recognise how they benefit from the system and don’t complain about having to contribute. “I’m very happy to pay the level of taxes I pay for what I get, and have gotten, in return,” says Polak. “I might feel different if I made more money because I’d be taxed a lot more, but I think the overall feeling in Finland is that our taxes are used for the betterment of society.
“It’s not like in the US, where you’re constantly being reassured that your tax dollars are ‘at work’. Paying taxes is also very easy in Finland, a stark contrast to the nightmare that is filing taxes in the US.”
“It’s a safe place to be”
Many parents feel free to send their primary-school age children off to school by themselves and, as a woman, Polak describes feeling generally “very safe” there. “When something happens, it’s in the news and everyone hears about it. So, while you do read about crime and bad things do happen, it’s not nearly on the same level as some of the other countries I’ve lived in. I feel safe walking alone, even at night – sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s a better idea not to walk alone.”
Class differences as signified through language and accent aren’t as evident in Finland as they are in a country like the UK, for example, which is notoriously obsessed with wealth and social standing. “There’s very little classism in Finland,” says Polak. “Even if people do have money, they don’t really show it off the way people do in other parts of the world. Every year, Finland’s top earners’ tax receipts are made public in major newspapers and tabloids.
“It’s almost like it’s frowned upon to make too much money, and you don’t become famous just for having money. The terms ‘socialite’ or ‘it girl’ don’t really have a place in Finland.” That’s as good a reason to emigrate as any.
Sauli Niinisto won the presidential election in 2012 to become the country’s first conservative head of state in five decades. He is the first president from the conservative National Coalition Party since 1956, and the first in 30 years from a party other than the Social Democrats. The victory of the pro-Europe politician suggested that voters wanted to keep the country in the eurozone despite misgivings over European Union bailouts. Mr Niinisto is credited with leading Finland’s economy towards growth following the collapse of the Soviet Union, during his tenure as finance minister from 1996 to 2001.
Finland’s president has a largely ceremonial role with fewer powers now than in previous decades, and is not directly involved in daily politics, but is seen as an important shaper of public opinion. Mr Niinisto comfortably won a second term in the January 2018 election.
Juha Sipila became prime minister in April 2015 following his Centre Party victory in the parliamentary election. He heads a coalition government made up of the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party. In 2016, he faced accusations of trying to suppress an online report by public broadcast YLE of an alleged conflict of interest relating to his family; he insisted he did not try to influence the editor into taking down the story. Described as a millionaire, Mr Sipila made his fortune managing several electronics and financial services companies in the late 1980s and 1990s. He entered politics in 2011, becoming a member of parliament for the first time, and a year later was elected chairman of the Centre Party.
Media
Finland has made broadband access a legal right for every citizen. By 2015 more than 93% of the population was online, one of the highest rates of internet penetration in the European Union.
Judicial System
Irregular payments and bribes are perceived as extremely rare in the judicial system (GCR 2015-2016). Public polls reveal that citizens do not pay bribes to judges and that the judicial system is considered to be among Finland’s least corrupt institutions (GCB 2013; European Commission, Feb. 2014). Over four in five businesses perceive the independence of judges and courts as fairly good or very good (JS 2017). Companies consider the judiciary effective in ensuring the transparent enforcement of commercial contracts, dispute settlements and challenging regulations (GCR 2017-2018; ICS 2017). Around one in ten judges surveyed believes that judges in Finland are appointed or promoted on basis other than ability and experience (ENCJ 2017). Only very few judges express concerns about facing inappropriate pressure in their work (ENCJ 2017). Finnish judges must adhere to a set of ethical principles which include openness, independence, professionalism and impartiality (GRECO 2017). Finland has a political culture which prioritizes legal certainty, condemns personal conflicts of interest, and prevents public official from abusing their position (SGI 2017). In one instance, Finland’s Prosecutor General Matti Nissinen was indefinitely suspended from his position over an investigation into whether he had personally lobbied for the purchase of educational services from a firm owned by his brother (OCCRP, Sept. 2017).
The OECD has been critical of the Finnish judiciary’s ability to prosecute foreign bribery offenses, particularly pointing to a high acquittal rate (OECD 2017). The OECD recommends assigning foreign bribery cases to judges with specialized skills and providing more training in order to effectively prosecute the offense (OECD 2017). Enforcing a contract in Finland is significantly faster and less costly compared to the OECD high income country average (DB 2018). Finland is a party to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and it is also a member state to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Police
Finland’s police sector is regarded as being free from corruption and enjoying a large degree of public trust (SGI 2017). Public polls reveal that citizens do not pay bribes to police officers and that police services are considered to be among Finland’s least corrupt institutions (GCB 2013; European Commission, Feb. 2014).The reliability of police services to protect companies from crime is considered very high (GCR 2017-2018), and the government has effective mechanisms to investigate and punish police abuse (HRR 2016).
In an isolated corruption case, the former head of Helsinki’s anti-drug police unit, Jari Aarnio, was found guilty of abuse of office, aggravated fraud and passive bribery in relation to the purchase of equipment and software on behalf of the Helsinki police department from a company in which Aarnio was an investor with decision-making powers (Uutiset, June 2015). In 2016, Aarnio was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment over the charges (YLE, Sept. 2017). Aarnio has maintained his innocence and was appealing the verdict as of the time of review (YLE, Sept. 2017).
Public Services
Companies report that irregular payments and bribes almost never occur when obtaining public utilities, business permits, licenses and other related services (GCR 2015-2016; European Commission, Feb. 2014). Finland’s regulatory system is transparent, efficient and competitive (ICS 2017). Public administration in Finland is regarded as transparent and is characterized by high standards, relatively non-hierarchical structures, and little if any politicization of key civil service positions (EUACR 2014). In combination with social factors, this has contributed to a low level of corruption in public institutions (EUACR 2014). Companies may encounter some bureaucratic red tape when starting certain businesses (ICS 2017).
It takes less steps but significantly more time to start a business in Finland compared to the OECD high income average (DB 2018). Dealing with construction permits involves significantly more steps, but it also requires less than half the time required in other OECD high income countries (DB 2018).
Tax Administration
There is a low risk of corruption in the tax administration. Companies do see tax rates as a problematic factor for doing business (GCR 2017-2018), but companies indicate that irregular payments and bribes are very rare in the process of tax payments (GCR 2015-2016). Likewise, public polls reveal that Finland’s tax administration is free from both corruption and abuse of power, and that bribery almost never occurs during interactions with tax authorities (GCB 2013; European Commission, Feb. 2014). The tax administration has provided tax officials with guidelines stating the latter’s obligation to report suspected criminal offenses, including foreign bribery (ICS 2017). The Act on the Taxation of Business Profits forbids the tax deduction of bribes in Finland and abroad.
The average time and cost required to deal with tax payments is lower than the OECD average (DB 2018).
Civil Society
In Finland, freedom of expression and access to information are constitutionally guaranteed and respected by the government in practice (HRR 2016). Media outlets and journalists operate freely, without political interference or other restrictions, although defamation remains criminalized (FotP 2016). The media plays a central role in uncovering and reporting on corruption cases (NISA 2012), and Finland’s media environment is considered to be among the freest in the world (FotP 2017).
Nongovernmental organizations operate in Finland without restrictions (FitW 2016). Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a vital role in Finland, with around 75 percent of Finns belonging to at least one organization (NISA 2012). Many CSOs rely on state funding, and very few CSOs are active in anti-corruption matters (NISA 2012). CSOs are widely consulted when legislation is under consideration (SGI 2017).
(sources: https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/finland; http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17288360)
The World Happiness Report 2018 concluded that Finland is the happiest country in the world. “That Finland is the top scorer is remarkable,” said Meik Wiking of the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark. “GDP per capita in Finland is lower than its neighboring Nordic countries and is much lower than that of the US. The Finns are good at converting wealth into well-being. Finland marked it’s first century of independence in 2017 and, in spite of its relatively small population, is a world leader in many fields.
