Older but Golder!
Finland is celebrating 100th anniversary in 2017
Finland became an independent state on 6th of December in 1917.
Despite of hard times (civil war 1918, Word War II in 1939-44) the Finns have built this nation successful by making decisions together. Now we are steering the country to the new century with pride and courage.
How is it like to be a Finn in Finland? We are celebrating our 100th anniversary and the country is in many ways better than ever. In many measures of well-being Finland performs well. Finland ranks at the top in education and skills and above average in OECD in most dimensions like jobs and earnings, environmental quality, subjective well-being, personal security, social connections, housing and work-life balance. Read more here.
Good education and skills are important requisites for finding the job. In Finland 87% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, higher than OECD average (76%). Finland is a top performing country in terms of the quality of its educational system.
The educational achievements have happened during 100 years of independence. Our national character has raised up to the top of education and trust culture.
The mindset that drives us is the “sisu“. Very special Finnish word which means that you will never give up. We always look for solutions, mainly practical. We are usually focused on functionality – making things work.
There is not that many people in Finland, but we want to take care of all of them. We have to use everyone´s capacity. We have to believe in equality and trust. The human capital is the most valuable thing we have. By giving the best possible education we get the educated workforce needed to make the future even better and more sustainable.
The theme of Finland´s centenary celebration is “Together“. We used to say that we will do what we say and the Finnish handshake is the most reliable. Try it, you will like it.
Juha Lahtinen
p.s. Finland is the only European nation to make it into top 10 at Lonely Planet’s Best of Travel 2017 list, ranking third.
