Member-only story
What Scandinavian Countries Can Teach Us About Happiness
The World Happiness Report is misworded, but still has incredible insights to learn from.
Are you happy about your life, generally speaking? Do you have all the things you want and need?
My Danish friend loves to tout how happy people are in her country — and she has a point. Denmark consistently places in the top 5 in the World Happiness Report, finishing second in 2023 to Finland.
And though it’s demoralizing to look at this report (the US finished 15th, and hasn’t ever broken the top 10), it is hardly surprising. Despite being the wealthiest large nation, we have a list of big problems. Our lagging in these rankings flies in the face of our obsessive focus on self-improvement, and continuous growth.
But are we looking at these reports entirely wrong?
Some issues with this happiness report
First, we often assume that a statistic is all encompassing. My aforementioned friend from Denmark, despite being in such a happy nation, is currently in a funk, feeling quite depressed. Remember that a nation is a big place, with many storylines and opportunities for happiness and the lack thereof. So don’t confuse this report for meaning everyone is…
