Where do you think the world’s happiest people live? Somewhere hot with sandy beaches? A country with a tradition of the fine food and culture? Not according to a recent study by the university of Leicester. Who are the happiest people on Earth?
Let’s start with all that tax they pay. The Danish government provides its people with one of the finest education and health systems in the world. It spends more on children and elderly people per capital than other country.
And there’s another advantage to those high taxes. Because a shop assistant’s final salary is not that much less than someone who works in a bank, for example, Danes don’t choose their careers based on money or status as people in other countries do. They choose the job they want to do. There’s a philosophy in Denmark known as “Jante-lov”, which translates as “you’re no better than anybody else.”
Money doesn’t seem as important in Denmark. It has been called a “post consumerist” society.
A.In a list ranking countries by the happiness of their citizens, it pm tropical Fiji 50 places below freezing Iceland. |
B.The street sweeper can hold his head up high as he proudly does his job. |
C.Danish people aren’t as suspicious as many other nations. |
D.Most Danes are used to seeing between 50-70% of their salary going to the government! |
E.Those 5.5 million people who call Denmark their home. |
F.People have nice things in their houses, but they’re not mad about shopping and spending. |