The World Happiness Report, which was launched in 2012, is an annual survey conducted by the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The survey ranks global happiness in countries around the world.

The happiness index included surveys on how countries have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic that has shaken the world for more than a year.

On this year’s report, Iceland came in second, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

See the World’s 20 Happiest Countries.

Finland

Iceland

Denmark

Switzerland

Netherlands

Sweden

Germany

Norway

New Zealand

Austria

Israel

Australia

Ireland

United States

Canada

Czech Republic

Belgium

United Kingdom

China

France

Mart Helme, the chairman of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party, took a swipe at Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin during a radio interview on Sunday, ridiculing her and her party.

“Now we see how one sales girl has become a prime minister, and how some other street activists and non-educated people have also joined the cabinet,” the 70-year-old Helme said of Marin, according to the BBC.

He also called Marin’s Social Democratic Party “red” and alleged that it was out to “liquidate” Finland with its policies.

At the age of 34, Marin, who has spoken out about growing up in a disadvantaged family and who worked as a sales assistant before going to a university, is the world’s youngest prime minister.

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid called her Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, on Monday to give a public apology on behalf of her country and its interior minister. She said she was “embarrassed” by Helme’s remarks.

Helme apologized much later, blaming the media for overplaying his comments. He said he had intended to “acknowledge that it is possible to work oneself up from a low social level also into top politics,” according to the BBC.

“If someone has misunderstood it… then indeed I want to say that I am offering my apology to the prime minister of Finland,” he added.

For her part, Marin responded on Twitter by saying she was “extremely proud of Finland.”

“Here a child from a poor family can get educated and achieve many things in their lives,” she wrote. “The cashier of the shop can become a prime minister.”

Helme is widely known in the Baltic country for political gaffes and sexist comments, including personal attacks on Kaljulaid. His most recent remarks led to the collapse of Estonia’s three-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Juri Ratas.

On Tuesday, members of the 101-seat Riigikogu voted 44-42 to remove Helme. However, the motion needed an absolute majority of 51 votes to pass.

Marin who will become the world’s youngest sitting prime minister, had a swift rise in Finnish politics since becoming head of the city council of her industrial hometown of Tampere at the age of 27.

She will be taking over in the middle of a 3-day wave of strikes, which will halt production at some of Finland’s largest companies from Monday December 9. The Confederation of Finnish Industries estimates the strikes will cost the companies a combined 500 million euros (US$550 million) in lost revenue