Finns happier than Kiwis - is Brownlee to blame?

A United Nations study has found Finns are happier than Kiwis - and senior minister Gerry Brownlee reckons that's thanks to a speech that caused outrage in the Nordic country last month.

Responding in Parliament to a call to follow in Finland's footsteps, Mr Brownlee said it had worse unemployment than New Zealand and "can hardly feed the people who live there, has a terrible homicide rate, hardly educates its people, and has no respect for women".

The comments upset Finns in New Zealand and were picked up by Finnish media.

Mr Brownlee was lambasted by Finnish comedian Tuomas Enbuske, who criticised his weight and mocked New Zealand for the size of its sheep population.

Now the Finns can mock us over our quality of life, too, after a United Nations report on global happiness ranked Finland second and New Zealand eighth.

And why are they so happy?

According to Mr Brownlee: "I suspect it's because they're still laughing at my speech."

Finland was edged out of the top spot by another Nordic country, Denmark.

"Poor old Finns - can't be first again," Mr Brownlee said.

The World Happiness Report put Australia one place behind New Zealand. The United States was ranked 11th and the United Kingdom 18th.

Although wealth was one factor behind happiness, others included political freedom, a lack of corruption and good social support.

The least happy countries were all poor sub-Saharan African nations - Togo, Benin, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone.

The top happiest countries:

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Netherlands
5. Canada
6. Switzerland
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Ireland