To be honest, it hasn't be a great year for Finland either, particularly on the economic front. But 'tis the time to be jolly and positive, so I thought I would share some good Finnish news from the past year.
It seems hardly a month goes by without Finland ranking pretty high in some world list. Here are 10 of the rankings I came across this year.
1st best place in the world to be a mother
May 2014: Finland is the best place to be a mother, according to the “State of the World’s Mothers 2014” by Save the Children. Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark are all in the top 6, with Netherlands (at 5th) behind the only non-Nordic country in the ranking. The UK is 26th (tied with Belarus) and the USA is 31st.1st for press freedom in the world
February 2014: Finland is ahead of the Netherlands and Norway in terms of freedom of the press according to “The World Press Freedom Index” compiled by Reporters Without Borders. The UK is 33rd and USA 46th.1st most accepted passport in the world
April 2014: Finland is joint first with Sweden and the UK, with visa-free access to 173 countries in the world according to The Henley & Partners “Visa Restrictions Index”. The USA is joint second with 172 countries.2nd lowest gender gap in the world
October 2014: Finland is one of the most "gender-equal" country in the world, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2014 published by the World Economic Forum. It is ranked 2nd behind Iceland, and ahead of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and (surprisingly to me at least) Nicaragua and Rwanda. Germany was 12th, France 16th, the USA 20th and the UK 26th.3rd least corrupt country in the world
December 2014: Finland is just behind Denmark and New Zealand in the “uncorruptibles” stakes according to Transparency International’s “Corruption Perception Index 2014”. The Germany was 12th, UK was 14th, the USA 17th and France joint 26th (no comment!).4th best judicial system in the world
March 2014: Finland has one of the best judicial system according to World Justice Project’s “Rule of Law Index 2014”, which is built around 8 main themes (constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice). It came behind Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The UK ranked 13th, France 18th, and the US 19th,4th in global competitive ranking
September 2014: Finland is the EU’s mot competitive economy, according to the World Economic Forum “The Global Competitiveness Report 2014 – 2015”. Globally, it ranked behind Switzerland, Singapore, USA and ahead of Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Netherlands, UK and Sweden. Finland dropped one place to fourth due to a “slight deterioration of its macroeconomic conditions” and its high deficit and debt levels.5th best education system in world
May 2014: Yup, that’s right, Finland is no longer top of the class. According to education and publishing firm, Pearson, Finland now ranks behind South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Fifth place is still pretty good, and Finland remains the top country in Europe, ahead of the UK (6th place) and the Netherlands (8th). Germany is 12th, the USA is 14th and France is 23rd (ha, that must be a shock to the French!).9th most innovative country in the world
January 2014: Finland is ranked an honourable 9th in the innovation stakes according to Bloomberg, though some Finns might find it irksome that they were beaten by both Sweden (2nd) and Denmark (6th). The USA was 3rd, Germany was 5th, France was 12th and the UK 16th.98th best national rugby team in the world
December 2014: At the end of 2014, Finland was 5th from bottom in rugby world ranking. Doesn't sound too good, does it? But it is: for a long time Finland was in the very last position. That slot is now occupied by Greece (any good news coming out of Greece this year?).So there you have it: 10 reasons for Finns to feel quite smug about their country in 2014.
Any other 2014 rankings you would care to share, dear reader? Let's try to keep it positive!
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