Happiest people on earth

What is the purpose of life? It’s often to become happy. Whatever country or society people live in, they all have the same deep desire: to become happy. Happiness may appear to be a subjective and intangible quality that is hard to define and harder to measure. However, happiness remains one of the most meaningful and deeply felt life experiences and has become an important and growing field to study. The first ‘World Happiness Report’ commissioned for the UN conference on happiness was held in April 2012, and drew international attention as the first survey of the state of global happiness (Denmark.dk & WorldHappinessReport2013). Denmark has taken the top spot. Even though the weather can be dreary and in winter it’s dark most of the day, leaving some Danes as depressed, the Danish people is considered to be the world’s happiest. How come?

To figure out why Denmark is the happiest country on earth we have to look closer into the definition of happiness and how to measure it.
The idea that individuals have happiness as their ultimate goal in life is not undisputed. According to Michael Argyle, happiness is not a static goal that individuals are able to attain by aspiring it. Rather, happiness is a by-product of a “good life” producing satisfaction over the long run. Therefore happiness can be seen as the overall contentment with life, which is normally called “life satisfaction”. Next, happiness is the quality of life achieved by developing and fulfilling one’s potential, which has been called eudemonia or “the good life”. This definition mainly sees happiness as a feeling inside of us (Michael Argyle, 1989, p.1-5).

The World Happiness Report 2013 on the other hand reveals trends in the data judging how happy countries really are. On a scale running from 0 to 10, people in over 150 countries, surveyed by Gallup over the period 2010-12, reveal a population-weighted average score of 5.1 (out of 10). Six key variables explain three-quarters of the variation in annual national average scores over time and among countries. These six factors include: real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity (WorldHappinessReport2013).

According to the World Happiness Report 2013, Denmark is the happiest country in the world, since they have the highest life evaluation score in the official report. This study takes a variety of factors into account, including people's health and access to healthcare, family relations and job security as well as social factors like political freedom and government corruption. To go into details about this I will sum up the findings the reports did about Denmark. According to work balance, Denmark has a normal workweek of 37 hours and Danish employees’ benefit from 6 weeks of holiday a year. This means that leisure time is a huge part of the Danish culture, which is optimized in a great number of ways, let it be social gatherings, sports, taking a course, or joining the local book or theatre club. Leaving work on time, bicycling home or jumping on effective public transport, picking up your children from and having a cozy family dinner is happiness for most families in Denmark.
So leisure time and ‘hygge’ is determined as happiness in Denmark. Leisure time is easily spend together with others involving the Danish term ‘hygge’ a word for cosy social gatherings, intimate get-togethers with family and friends. ‘Hygge’ during winter could involve that cuddly feeling in front of a fireplace after a day at the Christmas market on a cold showy day or during spring and summer, actually whenever the sun is out, involves gathering outside in a park, by the beach, or in the open streets, covering every spot to chat, have a beer and feel ‘hygge’ getting that bit of fresh air and sun. Hygge is something Danes strive for, at all times, no questions asked, in quaint little pubs and cafés or during softly lit dinners with family and friends.

A whole other aspect is Danish people’s low expectations in general. Not too ambitious or pompous, maybe holding back from a historical fright: the Janteloven (jante-law), which essentially says ‘you’re no better than anybody else’. This Jante-law is both frowned upon and reluctantly respected, creating a sense of human equality in the Danish society. No one judges your choice of career or lack of ambition, if you are happy with what you do, then enjoy. This lowered expectation, you could say, makes it far easier for Danes to obtain happiness, low expectations equals less disappointment. Simplicity and small is Danish buzzwords and might be underlying the low expectations and fast-train to happiness as well. Danes really enjoy simple things and simple life, Danish design and home decoration reflecting this bit. (Denmark.dk).

According to Welfare, Denmark is considered to be one of the most egalitarian societies in the world, where both men and women have carriers. Taxes are high in Denmark, which makes up for a governmental healthcare system where everybody has free access to hospitals and surgery. Schools and universities are free and under- and graduate students get monthly student grants for up to seven years. Unemployment benefits and schemes to help you find a job are generous. And government spending on children and the elderly is higher than any other country per in the world per capita. It is highly considered that the welfare system in Denmark thrive that sense of security that makes people feel at ease and confident that if they get unemployed or ill, the public body will support you and help you back on your feet (Huffingtonpost).
Other key factors in the Dane’s prescription of happiness are safety, security and trust. Trusting the government, trusting the work place, the kindergarten and schools who takes care of your children, trusting you are save, with low crime and government corruption, a respected police force and friendly neighbors. Mothers leave their babies unattended in strollers outside cafés and people might leave their doors unlooked in the countryside. And perhaps the Danes beloved bicycle is actually the best symbol of the Danish happiness, needless to say that the very idea of a bike giving you freedom to go anywhere, many Danes, those who can afford to buy a car, choose the bike – simple, economical, non-polluting machines that keeps you fit (CBSNews).
Last but not least, gender equality is prioritized. Denmark boasts an impressive record on gender equality and is coming close to achieving gender parity. The strategy is focusing on equal rights, conditions, opportunities and empowerment of women and men to shape their own lives and affect society (Huffingtonpost).
So this was one way to define and measure happiness, but does that mean it’s the definitive answer to find the happiest people on earth?
To look at a whole different point of view, according to the Latino dating site LatinEuro.com, you define happiness by looking at people’s photos. LatinEuro.com is an International Dating site with more than 22 years in business and 100,000's of members from all over the world and they have developed a new way to discover who are the happiest people on earth. So, looking at pictures of people can determine happiness more accurately, since it’s a subjective, not an analytical human quality. And as the article poses “A picture is worth a thousand words." They simply disagree with the World Happiness Report, by claiming that the studies is flawed by the fact that it only rely upon people filling out their own written forms. They argue that the LatinEuro.com study is more accurate, because a portrait of a human being and the lines and character of their face will tell you more about that person than any written form (PRWeb). Some might say that this is just something they came up with, but it’s a study based on tens of thousands of photos of different groups of people around the world that have been submitted over a 22 year period.
They cannot account for Denmark being the happiest country in the world since “you don't see many Scandinavians with smiles on their face (PRWeb). This statement is in contrast to what the World Happiness Report claim – wouldn’t we all believe that the happiest people on earth have a smile on their face? According to an article from CBSNews where a Danish man was interviewed, he was surprised about the fact that he was among the happiest people on earth. This is clearly shown by his statement:
"If you didn't tell me about the survey I wouldn't believe that Denmark was the happiest place. Because everybody complains all the time” and happy as they may be, Danes rarely show it. People are not looking very happy in the street.” (CBSnews.com)
LatinoEuro.com therefore states that the happiest people on earth is the Brazilians, since photos of Brazilians shows big grin and it's genuine and true when a Brazilian person looks you right in the eye and smiles, without pretense or judgment. And they can even be poor, but happy. Next, personal relationships with other people ultimately determine the depth of human happiness. Brazilians are one of the most friendly and gregarious people in the world.
Brazilians love their country and are happy despite pressing social issues like crime and poverty (PRWeb).

If the definition of happiness is so different from each other and different aspects are involved when studies are carried out measuring the extent of happiness, why do we even have to measure it? It might be because actions that we do are not virtuous unless they increase human happiness (Michael Argyle, 1989, p.1-5). So on one hand it’s a fact that Denmark is the happiest country in the world according to the World Happiness Report, since they have a robust combination of higher life expectancy, gross domestic product per capita, social support, generosity, freedom to make life choices and lower perceptions of corruption. And maybe if you travel to this happy country with an open mind and a loving heart, you can pick up on that Danish spirit of "hygge,". Brazilians on the other hands is seen as the happiest people on earth by using a measurement of face expressions from photos instead of letting trends determine how happy people is. So you might ask yourself the question if officials by analyzing happiness data, hope to improve the world's social, economic and environmental well-being or simply just leave a country feeling better than the rest of the world?

Sources of Literature

Book:

Argyle, Michael: The Psychology of happiness. 1. Edition. Methuen & Co. Ldt, 1987.

Report:

World Happiness Report 2013. Oublished by Helliwell, Layard and Sachs in 2013. Web address: http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WorldHappinessReport2013_online.pdf - Visited d. 10.10.2014 (Internet)

Webpages:

Denmark Is Considered The Happiest Country. You'll Never Guess Why. Published by Huffingtonpost. Last updated: 22.10.2013.
Web Address: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/denmark-happiest-country_n_4070761.html - Visited d. 10.10.2014 (Internet)

Happiest in the world. Published at Denmark.dk.
Web address: http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-danes/work-life-balance-the-danish-way/happy-danes/
Visited d. 10.10.2014 (Internet)

The Happiest People in the World Uncovered by LatinEuro.com Latin Dating Site. Published by PRWeb. Last updated: 28.06.2011.
Web address: http://www.prweb.com/releases/latineuro/whoarethehappiestpeople/prweb8598315.htm - Visited d. 10.10.2014 (Internet)

And The Happiest Place On Earth Is.... Published by CBSNews. Last updated: 14.02.2008. Web address: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/and-the-happiest-place-on-earth-is/2/
Visited d. 10.10.2014 (Internet)