There's an uneasy mood in Finland , the country that's ranked the world's happiest for nine consecutive years . A colder-than-usual winter is on the way and so is the toughest austerity budget in years.

With an election due in April, the argument is no longer how much to cut, but which services, benefits and pensions will face the biggest cuts.

Finland's debt and deficit levels are in their worst state since the 1990s, when a banking crash and the collapse of the Soviet Union — a key export partner — pushed the Nordic nation into its own Great Depression.

Finland's debt ratio climbed sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic

Last month, Finland's national statistical institution confirmed that the national debt had reached 90.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter. Before the pandemic, that figure was around 65%.

Trouble to the east is, again, part of the reason. Finland ramped up defense spending after joining NATO a year after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine .…