Finland provides affordable healthcare. My left ear was damaged by a doctor who refused to fix it, because we were poor, we couldn’t take legal action or afford to fix my ear. I was nearly deaf in my right ear for all of my teens and twenties. When I moved to Finland, it was simple to fix and only costed me 40€ (approximately 41/42$). Compared to the estimated 12k they were going to charge me back home it was a god send.

The vegetables are vastly cheaper and better quality. Despite Virgina, and where I am from being farming land, they only farm soy, cotton, and what we called “horse corn». Here, Finland has an intense growing season that is short but plentiful. Rutabagas, Beets, Carrots, Potatoes, Tomatoes, are all vegetables I have seen locally sourced from Finland. You can get 2kg of Rutabegas for .59/kg! I was never able to find that kinda deal back home, even at farmer markets. So eating healthy is definitely easier here than it was back home.

Public Transportation is common and amazing. We didn’t have buses where I lived, and sidewalks? Hah! funny. Street crossing signs and areas? nope. The buses are not the cleanest, but they are clean even when they have been carting people all day, they remain pretty clean.

Education, okay, well this one is a two bladed sword. I am studying finnish currently, and while they do suck at teaching their own language but they are teaching about proper nutrition! Which is pretty awesome if you ask me. It’s great that they want to make sure even immigrants, like me, are healthy!

Streets are clean, the forest is clean, the lakes are swimmable. There is very little pollution, and they are working to further cut back on pollution still. Recycling is a major thing as well, and it isnt difficult to find a way to recycle.

Food safety is a thing. In America, look at any ingredient list and you will find an INSANE amount of addatives and other crap. HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) is in EVERYTHING it seems. Bread isnt suppose to be sweet but HFCS is there! In Finland such things are banned, most ingredient lists are short because it only contains natural ingredients! It may not last as long, but at least my body is no longer being pumped full of junk.

For me, a developed nation is one in which it cares for it’s people. That accepts science when it says “this affects your health negatively», and says “we don’t want our people sick»

Is it a developed nation? I think so, yes, is it done developing? Not by a long shot.

The laws are still a bit sticky and buracracy is an annoying and painfully slow process. However Finland has the capacity for change that I don’t really see elsewhere. I respect that in Finland.

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