Finland: The world's happiest country has a debt problem it can no longer ignore

There's an uneasy mood in Finland — the country ranked the world's happiest for nine consecutive years . A colder-than-usual winter is on the way and so is the toughest austerity budget in years. With an election due in April, the argument is no longer how much to cut, but which services, benefits and pensions will face the biggest cuts. Finland's debt and deficit levels are in their worst state since the 1990s, when a banking crash and the collapse of the Soviet Union — a key export partner — pushed the Nordic nation into its own Great Depression. Last month, Statistics Finland confirmed that the national debt had reached 90.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter. Before the pandemic, that figure was about 65%.