While some countries like Bhutan are actively trying to achieve happiness in order to benefit their citizens, the Scandinavian nations seem to have figured out different ways to maintain happy communities. The Scandinavian region is made up of Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. These six nations are generally ranked at the top of the happiness lists, but for this post we will focus on Denmark as they have consistently scored highest on happiness polls due to their government, education, and economics stand points. Denmark is also highly aware of the issues their nation is faced with and continue to work on making changes to improve these.. According to the UN’s 2013 World Happiness Report, Denmark is listed as the happiest nation, however, Denmark is ranked number 6 in the Prosperity poll, and comes in as number 8 on the Gallup poll. Nonetheless, Denmark is the only European country listed on the top ten of the Gallup poll. So why is Denmark so happy? Could this be linked to Danish genetics as new research by the University of Warwick has reported? Or is there more to it?
Eric Weiner, the writer of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, notes that the Scandinavian nations, and most of Northern Europe, express their happiness differently than Americans do. He states that, “It’s not [the] American idea of overflowing with joy… Northern European countries, where the emotional range is more modulated – in the sense that they’re humming along at fairly high levels, but don’t have these [emotional] peaks and valleys that other European countries have – score higher [on happiness]” (Sood, 2011). Weiner is, essentially, saying that these nations are more reserved in showing their emotions and remain relatively balanced and peaceful, which leads to their high happiness scores.
To examine this further, we can take a look at Denmark's political structure. Denmark runs as a multi-party structure with socialist tendencies; they have a lot of welfare and unemployment benefits, free health care, and free education. Their goal as a nation is for all citizens to have equal rights to social security. Similar to Bhutan, Denmark also has strong ties to their monarchy, religion, and environment. They are also similar in the way that they both have a low immigration rate. According to “Denmark: Integrating Immigrants into a Homogeneous Welfare State” the country only has an immigration rate of 1.5% percent. This racial homogeneity creates less racial and cultural disputes, which leads to calmer more secure citizens. These concepts are closely tied to happiness, as is proven by Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness project, as well as the Gallup poll.
Scientific studies have shown that the Danish are genetically wired to be happy. A 2014 study at the University of Warwick's Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy, showed that Denmark citizens have a genetic benefit in achieving happiness. According to the study, which looked at genes containing serotonin (a genetic linked to happiness), “the short version has been associated with higher scores on neuroticism and lower life satisfaction. Intriguingly, among the 30 nations included in the study, it is Denmark and the Netherlands that appear to have the lowest percentage of people with this short version.” This study shows that Danish people are genetically predisposed to have a higher life satisfaction and less depression.
In 2012, The World Happiness Report stated that happiness is related to “the ability of people to shape their own lives, and [it] requires a solid level of freedom”. The Danes are considered to have a great sense of freedom. The World Happiness Report also adds that, “No people can be truly happy if they do not feel that they are choosing the course of their own life.” Opportunities in freedom include free education, respect in a person’s background (race, sexuality, or gender does not limit a person’s choice, such as marriage), and most importantly freedom of speech. A Danish citizen cannot be imprisoned for their political or religious belief. Groups may be formed without permission, and are able to demonstrate in public without fear of repercussion. Although Denmark’s constitution allows its citizens to say what they please, there are punishable acts such as child pornography, hate speeches and racism, or publishing classified information that puts the state’s security at risk. Yet, in 2004, 2005, and in 2009, they received first place in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index, while placing in the top 15 from 2006-2008 and in the top 10 from 2010-2013.
So the Danes are considered the happiest people on earth for reasons similar and different to those of the people of Bhutan. According to the Happiness Research Institute, Danes are so happy because of fundamental ingredients such as: highest level of trust amongst citizens in the world, high level of social security, wealth, high freedom levels in free education and gay rights and more. Their ability to look at and measure their countries happiness "can be used to inform policy makers, who are increasingly becoming more open to the idea of finding new ways to measure progress, and enhance the quality of life for citizens"(Happiness Research Institute).
As we continue our journey towards unveiling why some countries are happier than others, we can see that different countries achieve this idea of happiness in different ways. At this point we can’t say for sure whether there is a certain and right way in which to achieve happiness. Rather that it may be an individual pursuit and drive to create that within their country. Both Denmark and Bhutan have a special focus put towards creating a happy and healthy environment for their citizens, which in turn seems to be a large factor in whether a state is happy or not. So what is there to say about the differences between Bhutan and Denmark’s approach to happiness? Readers, do you think there is a certain formula to achieving happiness? Do you think it is possible to be genetically wired to be happy? These are questions that we will continue to explore.
Citations
Clifton, J. (2013). People Worldwide Are Reporting a Lot of Positive Emotions. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from
Education for All. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from http://denmark.dk/en/society/welfare/education-for-all/
Government and Politics. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from
Harraka, T. (2010, August 18). Finland: A Country of Extremes. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/18/finland-newsweek-best-country
Hedetoft, U. (2006, November 1). Denmark: Integrating Immigrants into a Homogeneous Welfare State. Retrieved November 2 from
Helliwell, J. Layard, R. Sachs, J (2013) World Happiness Report 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from
Lederman, R. (2013, March 1). Speaking of Education in Finland VS. America. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from
Legatum Institute. (2013). The 2013 Legatum Prosperity Index. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from http://www.prosperity.com/#!/.
Mapes, T. “The Essential Scandinavia Travel Guide” About.com November 2, 2014. Web. http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/scandinaviatripplanning/p/scanbasicstats.htm
Parker-Pope, T. (2011, April 22). Happiest Places Post Highest Suicide Rates. Retrieved November 2, 2014 from
Proto, E., & Oswald, A. (2014, July 17). News & Events. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/danish_dna_could/
Sood, S. (2011, June 24). Why are Finns So Happy. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
I have always read articles about the Scandinavian countries having the highest rate of happiness in the world and I always wondered why America could never achieve it. We like to call ourselves "the Melting Pot" because of all of the different ethnicity we have but according to the research above, one aspect of the Danes' happiness is their low level of immigration which has caused for less animosity towards people which would be almost impossible to achieve since the US was built by migrants (and Native Americans). Another thing I thought was neat was the predisposed gene for increased levels of serotonin. With the arguments above stating that the Danes also have free health care, education, and many other things, I thought that those would put them in a less stressful situation having do deal with financial insecurity causing them to be happy.
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