{"id":11646,"date":"2018-03-20T02:48:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T02:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11646"},"modified":"2018-03-21T02:52:57","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T02:52:57","slug":"why-denmark-dominates-the-world-happiness-report-rankings-year-after-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-denmark-dominates-the-world-happiness-report-rankings-year-after-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Denmark dominates the World Happiness Report rankings year after year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marie Helweg-Larsen<\/a>, Dickinson College<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The new World Happiness Report<\/a> again ranks Denmark among the top three happiest of 155 countries surveyed \u2013 a distinction that the country has earned for seven consecutive years. <\/p>\n

The U.S., on the other hand, ranked 18th in this year\u2019s World Happiness Report, a four-spot drop from last year\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s place among the world\u2019s happiest countries is consistent with many other national surveys of happiness<\/a> (or, as psychologists call it, \u201csubjective well-being\u201d). <\/p>\n

Scientists like to study and argue about how to measure things. But when it comes to happiness, a general consensus seems to have emerged. <\/p>\n

Depending on the scope and purpose of the research, happiness is often measured using objective indicators (data on crime, income, civic engagement and health) and subjective methods<\/a>, such as asking people how frequently they experience positive and negative emotions. <\/p>\n

Why might Danes evaluate their lives more positively? As a psychologist and native of Denmark, I\u2019ve looked into this question.<\/p>\n

Yes, Danes have a stable government, low levels of public corruption, and access to high-quality education and health care. The country does have the the highest taxes in the world<\/a>, but the vast majority of Danes happily pay<\/a>: They believe higher taxes can create a better society.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly, however, they value a cultural construct called \u201chygge\u201d (pronounced<\/a> h\u028a\u0261\u0259).<\/p>\n

The Oxford dictionary added the word in June 2017<\/a>, and it refers to high-quality social interactions. Hygge can be used as a noun, adjective or verb (to hygge oneself), and events and places can also be hyggelige (hygge-like). <\/p>\n

Hygge is sometimes translated<\/a> as \u201ccozy,\u201d but a better definition of hygge is \u201cintentional intimacy,\u201d which can happen when you have safe, balanced and harmonious shared experiences. A cup of coffee with a friend in front of a fireplace might qualify, as could a summer picnic in the park.<\/p>\n

A family might have a hygge evening that entails board games and treats, or friends might get together for a casual dinner with dimmed lighting, good food and easygoing fun. Spaces can also be described as hyggelige (\u201cYour new house is so hyggeligt\u201d) and a common way of telling a host thank you after a dinner is to say that it was hyggeligt (meaning, we had a good time). Most Danish social events are expected to be hyggelige, so it would be a harsh critique to say that a party or dinner wasn\u2019t hyggelige.<\/p>\n

Research<\/a> on hygge has found that in Denmark, it\u2019s integral to people\u2019s sense of well-being. It acts as a buffer against stress, while also creating a space to build camaraderie. In a highly individualized<\/a> country like Denmark, hygge can promote egalitarianism and strengthen trust.<\/p>\n

It would be fair to say that hygge is fully integrated into the Danish cultural psyche and culture. But it has also become a bit of a global phenomenon \u2013 Amazon now sells<\/a> more than 900 books on hygge, and Instagram has over 3 million posts<\/a> with the hashtag #hygge. Google trends data<\/a> show a big jump in searches for hygge beginning in October 2016.<\/p>\n

Nor is Denmark the only country that has a word for a concept similar to hygge \u2013 the Norwegians have koselig, the Swedes mysig, the Dutch gezenlligheid and the Germans gem\u00fctlichkeit.<\/p>\n

In the U.S. \u2013 which also places a high value on individualism \u2013 there\u2019s no real cultural equivalent of hygge. Income is generally associated with happiness; yet even though the country\u2019s GDP has been rising and its unemployment rates have been declining, levels of happiness in the U.S. have been steadily decreasing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

Income inequality continues to be an issue. But there\u2019s also been a marked decrease<\/a> in interpersonal trust and trust toward institutions like the government as well as the media<\/a>. In the end, more disposable income doesn\u2019t hold a candle to having someone to rely on in a time of need (something that 95 percent<\/a> of Danes believe they have). <\/p>\n

At its core, hygge is about building intimacy and trust with others. <\/p>\n

\"TheAmericans could probably use a little more of it in their lives.<\/p>\n

Marie Helweg-Larsen<\/a>, Professor of Psychology, Dickinson College<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marie Helweg-Larsen, Dickinson College The new World Happiness Report again ranks Denmark among the top three happiest of 155 countries surveyed \u2013 a distinction that the country has earned for seven consecutive years. The U.S., on the other hand, ranked 18th in this year\u2019s World Happiness Report, a four-spot drop from last year\u2019s report. Denmark\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[4214,4215,3646,4216,149,2197,1748,104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11648,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11646\/revisions\/11648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}