John Gibbons, an Irish carpenter settled in northern Finland, explains why this country remains the happiest in the world despite climate and geopolitical challenges.
Gibbons’s journey to Finland began over 20 years ago. After living in Rovaniemi, a city in the Lapland region, he moved an hour south to Tervola, as reported by the Irish Times.
There, he purchased a home for 32,000 euros. The property is categorized as a “rintamamiestalo,” which are simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-maintain buildings constructed after World War II.
According to Gibbons, “Houses here can be bought practically for nothing.” His home features a wood stove and a garden well, and he asserts he would manage “just fine for a while” even in the event of a major crisis.
While the region has become a strategic location for NATO and borders Russia, closed since 2023, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for nine consecutive editions of the World Happiness Report.
Gibbons remarks, “Where I live, there is no crime. We have a real summer and a real winter… it’s a magical place, it really is.” He notes that he can reach a river, lake, or forest within 10 minutes, often alone in nature.
The winters in the north bring daylight at 11:00 AM and sunset at 1:30 PM during Christmas. Gibbons admits these conditions are “not for the faint of heart,” adding, “I like that not everyone can handle it. It’s a challenge to enjoy living here and to thrive.”
Professionally, the Irishman left a job at a large construction firm to start his own traditional carpentry company, where he manually builds log cabins.
Recently, he designed and constructed a sauna for a client in Ireland. He compares the approach to these spaces between the two countries: “In Finland, saunas are the great equalizer. In Ireland, they are for those with some money.”
Gibbons appreciates how, in local culture, the sauna serves as a “great equalizer”: “The President of Finland and a janitor could both sit there together in the sauna. There’s no superior level; they are equals.”
