News of the homeland and happiness
Well, the other homeland, I suppose. In yesterday’s New York Times, there’s a little piece about an article that was published some time ago explaining why Danes are the happiest people in the world. Or at least believe themselves to the be happiest people in the world.
Again, you have to be registered to read it, I suspect, but this is yet another excellent reason to register at NYTimes.com. And no, I swear I am not doing this as an ad for the New York Times.
I think that the authors of the study are definitely onto something. There is very much an culture of low expectations in Denmark. You don’t hear stories on the news about “Is Denmark losing its dominance in stem cell research? And during the Olympic Games, there’s no expectation that Danes will win lots and lots of medals. I mean, if someone wins a medal, whether it’s silver or bronze (let alone gold), that’s great. But there’s no expectation that “we’re going to win more medals than anyone else” or anything like that. Similarly, much as Danes love Denmark, they still have a hard time imagining why anyone would really want to live there. People used to continually (and may still, for all I know) ask my parents, who had lived there for well over fifteen years, when they were going to move away. Because, really, would you want to stay in Denmark forever? Surely not.
My friend Knud pointed out that there is undoubtedly a strong correlation between low expectations and income equality. There’s a nice little article about this on wikipedia which demonstrates that Denmark does indeed have one of the smallest spreads in income in the world. Basically, no-one in Denmark grows up thinking that that they are going to become fantastically wealthy. And so that probably plays no small role in it as well.
You are a good article-finder. Or you and your mom.
Actually, credit for this one goes to my office mate, Jean.
I think the reason why Danes are happier than Swedes and Norwegians is that it’s not as dark in the winter. That’s also why Denmark hasn’t given birth to as many satanic death metal bands either. Church burning never really took off in Denmark either, unlike in northern Sweden and Norway where there really is nothing to do in the winter and I guess eventually the idea of burning down a church starts sounding really good. While playing or listening to some very loud death metal music.
Fun stuff.
I think it rocks that you have a friend named Knud. I want a friend named Knud.
I would just like to put it on record that my mom (who happens to be from Denmark) also has a friend named Knud.
Think its true that Danes seem to have modest expectations within the society they live in.
But the standard of life that most Danes have, simply by virtue of their nationality, is so high compared to the rest of the world, that they have no reason to expect much more: Free healthcare, free eduaction, decent unemployment support, decent salaries, nice houses, healthy food, heavily subsidised cultural activities, low crime rate etc etc.
No wonder you don’t dream big if you’re that comfortable.
Perhaps it’s true Dane’s dont understand why people want to live in Denmark; but maybe that’s just because they don’t understand what a comfortable lifestyle they have, compared to the rest of the world.
To them, other countries are exotic, with a more vibrant culture and better weather. They forget that there’s a flip side to the exciting and exotic countries, which mostly have bigger social problems than Denmark.
PS: Also, there’s some Danes who understand that foreigners want to live in Denmark – and don’t like it – The Xenophobic Danish People’s Party, who’s gaining support at the moment.
Marie, in some ways your point is very correct, but that doesn’t in principle explain the strong differences between Denmark and somewhere like Britain or the US, though, which has a similar or higher standard of living depending on how you measure it. The small differences between the rich and the poor is much more important, I think.
I think that Danes might be able to believe that people would want to come to Denmark from places in the world that are significantly worse off, but the idea that Americans, for instance, or British, or Spanish, or French, would actually settle down in Denmark permanently is just rather foreign to them.
Don’t forget that Danish right-wing people such as the extreme nationalist Pia Kjærsgaard seem to assume that almost everybody in the world would want to live in Denmark with its milk and honey, and that that is the reason why Mrs. Kjærsgaard and her party have become so depressingly popular in Denmark: One fifth of the Danes agree with her – Denmark must be protected from all the greedy people with dangerous religions out there (!)… Believing that everybody dreams about a society like the Danish one is a very important part of this party’s claimed raison d’être.
By the way, I’m surprised that Danes still consider themselves happy people. We still have one of the highest suicide rates in the world… :-/
@Marie:
Ooops, did not see your last comment until now…
Regarding the suicide rate in Denmark, I recall part of the reason that that statistic is so high is that it’s simply reported more frequently in Denmark because life insurance policies and things are not restricted in their pay-out under Danish law in the way that they are in some countries. That was something I vaguely recall hearing from some people in the mental health community, although it’s been a while now.
@Dan: You’re right, it’s the small difference between rich and poor which makes Danes happy – the fact that EVERYBODY has a good standard of living.
I think that e.g. Americans, Brits, French and Spanish people appreciate the equality of wealth in the Danish society, which is greater than in their home countries.
Danish people who do not understand why relatively well-of foreigners want to settle in Denmark, may not be aware that Denmark is much more socio-economically equal than other European countries (aside from other Scandinavian countries) and America.
They may not realise the benefits this creates; even well-of people enjoy benefiitng from good public services, and appreciate a low crime rate and general stability and high level of education.
Some foreigners may also be attracted to the socialistic ideals embedded in the welfare state.
On the whole, Denmark has very few problems compared to the rest of the world, even to developed industrial countries in Europe and the US.
This makes it a very safe and stable place to live -a good place to have a family and live peacefully.
Some might say, this cushioned life also makes Danes a bit narrow minded and ignorant, but that’s another debate all together.
A recent weekend in Sweden reminded me of a potential reason for Danes to be more satisfied than Swedes or Norwegians. In general, the food is a lot better in Denmark!