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What annoys Finns the most? Wars, selfishness, and telemarketers

The survey found that older people tend to be irked by boastfulness, while the younger generation dislikes right-wing political parties, the lack of job opportunities, and the use of AI at work.

Photo shows a photo composite of wars, selfishness and a phone.
Respondents to the survey had a long list of complaints, but wars, selfishness and telemarketing were top of the charts. Image: EPA, Jari Kovalainen / Yle, Sanni Isomäki / Yle. Kuvankäsittely: Tina Lundán
  • Yle News

Finnish people have a long list of bugbears, according to the results of a survey commissioned by communications agency Tekir and carried out by pollster Verian.

The list of complaints includes damaging the environment, rising prices and cheating — but the survey found that Finns are most annoyed by three things: wars, selfishness, and telemarketing cold calls.

The research also revealed some intergenerational differences, as pensioners tended to be more irritated — and annoyed about more things — than the rest of the population.

For example, three out of four pensioners were found to be angered by wars, and nearly two out of three found tax evaders particularly annoying. This age cohort also expressed their disdain for boastfulness.

Students and young people, on the other hand, were twice as likely as other groups to be irked by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at work.

The younger demographic also mentioned the lack of job opportunities (two out of three young respondents) and the activities of right-wing political parties (72 percent) as being of particular annoyance for them.

The survey also found that people's mental state or life circumstances can have a significant bearing on what annoys them, and how much. People tend to express more annoyance when they are also exhausted, ill or unemployed.

Despite all these annoying things in life, 89 percent of respondents to the research said they were happy constantly, often or at least from time to time.

The survey canvassed the views of over a thousand people living in Finland, between May and June this year.

The life satisfaction level of young people in Finland has fallen to a record low. Yle News journalist Ronan Browne looked into what's going on.

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