The results of the annual ranking, developed by the Legatum Institute of 104 countries, were published a while ago. The Legatum Prosperity Index takes into account several factors such as wealth, economic growth, personal wellbeing, and quality of life. Finland, my home country, topped the list of the 2009 report. ( You can read more about Legatum Prosperity Index in Wikipedia ).

I was slightly amused to read The Daily Mail's article on the subject.
The Daily Mail wrote the following = ”Finland, which is famed for its snow and igloos, topped the survey. The Scandinavian country boasts universal health care, superb air quality, low crime rates and one of the most competitive economies in the world. ”
Firstly, Igloos are not typical for Finland, but were originally built by the Inuit and were predominantly constructed by people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenland's Thule area. ( About igloos in Wikipedia ).
There is an igloo village in Kakslauttanen's area, in Saariselkä as the picture in the article showed, but they are there purely for tourism purposes. They are trying to offer new experiences. ( You can read about Kakslauttanen's igloo village here ).
Secondly, you might get the impression that there's snow in Finland the whole year round. There isn't. We are only now about to get the this year's first snow here in the Western Finland. (It is snowing a bit, right now, outside.)
And before anyone asks, we don't have polar bears here, either .

The Top 5 Countries were =
Finland
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark and
Norway



My Realistic people-articles:
'Realistic people I'
'Realistic people II'
'Realistic people III'
'Realistic people IV'
'Realistic people V - a synopsis'
More wonderful traditional portraits you can see in my collection here =
'Traditional Portraits'



The clubs I'm in =




My newest watchers =