Danes are the world’s happiest … seriously

Denmark is the best at being happy according to a new UN ‘happiness’ survey

Apr 4, 2012

The Copenhagen Post recently poked fun at Denmark and its capital Copenhagen for being 'the best at being the best' due to their uncanny ability to regularly top 'Best of' surveys and polls.

If only to confirm our prejudices, it was announced this week that Danes have again been crowned the happiest people, this time by the UN in its first 'World Happiness Report'.

Denmark was ranked first, while African countries Togo and Benin came in last and second last respectively.

Scandinavian and Nordic countries dominated the top spots, with Finland taking second, Norway third, and Sweden seventh, while the US took 11th and the UK 18th.

And while European countries were highly represented in the top ten, being European is no guarantee of happiness, as Bulgaria's position as 146th most happy, or fifth most unhappy, testifies to.

The results were based on interviews with 1,000 people over the age of 15 in each of the 155 countries surveyed.

The countries were then ranked on a scale of one to ten, ten being happiest. Danes received an average score of just under eight while the Togolese had a score a little over three.

According to the World Happiness Report, high levels of trust can be attributed the high reported levels of happiness that was distributed equally across income levels.

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Danes are the world’s happiest … seriously

New US Arctic security strategy co-opts Denmark as Russia deterrent

Anti-whaling activist and Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson arrested in Greenland

Migratory birds bring dangerous ticks to Denmark

Planes grounded in CPH as worldwide IT outage hits airlines, media and banks

CrowdStrike director: IT outage issue “has been identifed”

Foreign labour contributes DKK 76 billion to Danish economy in three months

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28 April: ‘Meet the Danes’ guided tour at the National Museum

20 April: Run around Kastellet

19 April: A guided tour of Christiansborg

6 April: Run around Frederiksberg Have

How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

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