Why Denmark Is The Happiest Nation In The World.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Norway wins for the best quality of life in the world,
but Denmark wins for being the happiest nation in the world out of more than 150 different nations in the UN report,
with Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland ranking in the top 5 ratings.

A 'Happiness Institute' was opened in Denmark.

(This isn't the effect of drugs as Denmark has low amounts of drug use, but rather the result of a natural happiness.)

These top 5 countries also enjoy a high quality of education, good healthcare, high living standards
and low poverty rates amongst the general populations in these nations.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2H0iWYBTiY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTGKUwMegZ4

[silver_surfer]

The real reason is that they get to be so close to Sweden! :rolleyes:

[Neon Knight]

Studies have shown that people from Denmark are officially the happiest people on Earth, and now scientists think they know why. According to research from the University of Warwick, genetics could be the key to explaining a nation’s levels of happiness. Researchers who looked at survey data from 131 countries found that the closer a nation was genetically to the Danes, the happier its people were.

Economists at the University's Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (Cage) looked at why certain countries top the world happiness rankings. The research, published by the German economic research institute IZA in its Discussion Paper series, could help to solve the puzzle of why a country like Denmark so regularly tops the world happiness rankings. Danish birth was also associated with specific versions of a gene that influences brain levels of the mood chemical serotonin.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2696136/Why-people-Denmark-happy-Study-claims-Danish-DNA-king-pursuit-happiness.html

[Sockorer]

Purely environmental explanations do not suffice.

It's probably in part a genetic predisposition, and because of the racial and cultural homogeneity, high trust and high living standards.

[Pennywise]

Because nothing is illegal.

[Sarmatian]

The main reason for general population happiness is low degree of economic inequality. Unfair redistribution of surplus in any business activity leads to appearance of super rich at expense of super poor. That in turn leads to inability of large masses at the bottom of society to maintain a decent living standards and result in high degree of discontent.

That is something non-existent in Nordic countries. If we look at the statistics we can find 4 Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) among lowest 10 on economic inequality. That alone makes any significant poverty impossible and provides a solid foundation for happiness in masses.

Another factor would be culture and working ethics. Harsh climate and often extreme living condition creates incentives for unification of effort and fair treatment of people within socium. Any overly greedy and manipulative individual will be cast away from society and bound to perish. That makes any sort of corruption very unlikely or insignificant. It also motivates people to be more mature and responsible when it comes to building social institutions.

Smaller size and relatively low population makes it easier to control crime level and prevent formation of any large organized criminal groups.

Geopolitics play some role too. Nordic countries in general standing aside from mainland Europe and proven to be of little interest for world powers. It's been awhile since any of them has been heavily involved into any sort of military conflict (with exception of Finland going through some turbulence after breaking away from Russian empire which possibly contributed into their moody and depressive mentality). They have little to worry about in terms of foreign military invasion (unlike small states of Central Europe living under constant threat of some major power walking over them in case of a big conflict).

[Drawing-slim]

That is awesome. Good for Danish people.

[Äijä]

The main reason for general population happiness is low degree of economic inequality. Unfair redistribution of surplus in any business activity leads to appearance of super rich at expense of super poor. That in turn leads to inability of large masses at the bottom of society to maintain a decent living standards and result in high degree of discontent.

That is something non-existent in Nordic countries. If we look at the statistics we can find 4 Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) among lowest 10 on economic inequality. That alone makes any significant poverty impossible and provides a solid foundation for happiness in masses.

Another factor would be culture and working ethics. Harsh climate and often extreme living condition creates incentives for unification of effort and fair treatment of people within socium. Any overly greedy and manipulative individual will be cast away from society and bound to perish. That makes any sort of corruption very unlikely or insignificant. It also motivates people to be more mature and responsible when it comes to building social institutions.

Smaller size and relatively low population makes it easier to control crime level and prevent formation of any large organized criminal groups.

Geopolitics play some role too. Nordic countries in general standing aside from mainland Europe and proven to be of little interest for world powers. It's been awhile since any of them has been heavily involved into any sort of military conflict (with exception of Finland going through some turbulence after breaking away from Russian empire which possibly contributed into their moody and depressive mentality). They have little to worry about in terms of foreign military invasion (unlike small states of Central Europe living under constant threat of some major power walking over them in case of a big conflict).

The social cohesion comes also from ethnic and cultural homogeneity.

Very good analysis in general.

[♥ Lily ♥]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2696136/Why-people-Denmark-happy-Study-claims-Danish-DNA-king-pursuit-happiness.html

Maybe that will explain all the sperm donations from Danes to make 5000 new Viking babies in England...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2917432/The-rise-BABY-VIKINGS-single-British-women-desperate-children-turning-sperm-donors-Denmark-ll-play-no-offspring-s-lives.html#ixzz3PhYtOZe9

[Neon Knight]

Maybe that will explain all the sperm donations from Danes to make 5000 new Viking babies in England...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2917432/The-rise-BABY-VIKINGS-single-British-women-desperate-children-turning-sperm-donors-Denmark-ll-play-no-offspring-s-lives.html#ixzz3PhYtOZe9It might also explain why everybody wants to be Germanic :biggrin:

But it's the depressed Danes I feel sorry for - they've kind of been ripped off.

[Thunder_shock]

It's likely down to genetics. The average person is depleted living under the modern life. Work and other responsibilities take their toll.

[Sideritis]

I still have to see a laughing Dane. True story!

But no, this is not true.

This "Happiness Index"( if that is the one we are talking about) is a conglomerate of standard of living, social benefits, healthcare etc, which in a optimal range imply satisfaction with life and thus happiness.
But of course that is far from being true, since happiness is a state of mind not easily measured.

[Drawing-slim]

I still have to see a laughing Dane. True story!

But no, this is not true.

This "Happiness Index"( if that is the one we are talking about) is a conglomerate of standard of living, social benefits, healthcare etc, which in a optimal range imply satisfaction with life and thus happiness.
But of course that is far from being true, since happiness is a state of mind not easily measured.
Security in life = happiness. And that's what Danes have.
I plaid poker online with many Scandinavians over the years and one thing is noticeable about Scandinavian players besides been brilliant they are universally known to be extremely aggressive and fearless.
This is because they have their rent and all the benefites paid guaranteed by their go state unlike me that when I go broke I'm literally on the street. And lack of this fear makes them even more successful.

[jute]

Purely environmental explanations do not suffice.

It's probably in part a genetic predisposition, and because of the racial and cultural homogeneity, high trust and high living standards.

There is more diversity in Denmark than what people think, while we perhaps ethnically are rather homogeneous I feel that there is a bit of a "fairytale" perspective to it all - people actually believe we are such a closed in little country with close relation to our culture. This is far from true, as a matter of fact Danes have always been the people who were going in the melting pot whenever they immigrated - Norwegians and Swedes both had a far harder time letting go of their roots, while we probably did carry some values with us. Generally we are quite open-minded towards other cultures over here, and it has actually only been the conservative movements that have made the way of living harder for us all. The far-right too has caused more issues than good, they have injected us with this false pride of "being Danish" which I find to be laughing stock and nothing else. We have managed to let other cultures benefit our ancient culture, and with that I can also say that many immigrants (Non-whites too) actually love and respect our traditions and norms. You might rather say that our happiness also rests in the fact that we have been such a rebellious country, the early "hippie" movements did benefit us in a time where conservative nutters wanted to sit in the grip of capitalism, this promoted the openness towards sexuality (the sick mentality of many other countries in regards to sexuality does lead to a form of oppression of the topic - this is a big, big issue) and these early 'rebels' also caused the creations of great little collectives that ensured freestates for the people who could not live a normal every day life. Denmark is happy because of tolerance, so don't use us as an example of a "White" europe.

[Sideritis]

Security in life = happiness. And that's what Danes have.
I plaid poker online with many Scandinavians over the years and one thing is noticeable about Scandinavian players besides been brilliant they are universally known to be extremely aggressive and fearless.
This is because they have their rent and all the benefites paid guaranteed by their go state unlike me that when I go broke I'm literally on the street. And lack of this fear makes them even more successful.


We are talking about a classical meaning of happiness, the individual one, not the deduction from statistical datas. As everybody implies it.
Because according to deductions, Danes are just behind Icelanders on consumption of anti-depressant. Which can make us draw the conclusion that they are not as happy after all, or maybe they are, who knows.:)
Anyways, Scandis may be aggressive online, but I assure you that will not be the case in IRL. But I agree, that security in life ( as you put it) at least creates some foundation to lead a fullfiling life. Which is what people are after, in general.