In perusing the "World In Figures" put out annually by the Economist magazine I found some impressive ranking for Finland.

Global Competitiveness 1. US 2. Finland

Lack of hindrance to business 3. Finland 5. US

Innovation index 1. US 3. Finland

Information & Communication Technology Index 3. Finland 4. US

Total Expenditure on R & D (% of GDP) 2. Finland 6. US

Corruption Perception Index (least) 1. Finland 16. US

Quite a society, Sporklord>

Or should I say thank you to one company....Nokia.

Haven't caught the newest Economist yet, but sounds 'bout right.

Nokia is a large consideration in those numbers but hardly the sole one. Nokia is not the only leg of the Finnish economy.

(PS: How did they count R&D as % of GDP?)

Finland number one in the world in death by heart attack.

138.2 per 100,000 population.

Diet?

Where's that info from?

It probably stems from diet, but there's nothing specially unhealthy about Finnish diet. Maybe it's the lack of sun...

These rankings shoot large holes through the arguments that socialism equates with economic suicide. Finland has the highest ranking but other social democracies manage to do quite well also. However, since few of those making this spurious argument will ever read the Economist ranking we needn't worry about their noise machine losing volume any time soon.

The US faces are serious human resources crisis, and if we don't set about trying to elevate our people (all of them) to a competitive status, and don't keep up on modernizing infrastructure, we will see the US sinking on that very same list as the years go by.

oc

I read a similar article about how those most contented in their jobs/lifestyle that the best index went to the social democracies of Scandinavia

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All sounds very good.... but wqhat has Finladn ever done.. apart from making phones...